Last of Our Kind
by Redbayly
Summary: A series rewrite. Katara is not the last Waterbender of the South Pole, there are two others. Wenona and Keng are Katara and Sokka's siblings, who join them on the journey to end the war. Rated T to be safe and because I have no clue how you're supposed to rate these things.
1. The Last of Our Kind

Last of Our Kind

**Yes, I have decided to create yet another OC fic. This one is going to be a little different from the ones I have made thus far. It is sort of an AU, in which…well, I'll let you see for yourself. Just a forewarning though, as with my other series rewrites this will contain Zutara and Taang. Don't like those pairings? Well, sorry, but I do and this is my fic. So, now to begin my newest series rewrite. I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.**

The Last of Our Kind

_Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, trouble came in the form of the Fire Nation. Only the Avatar, the master of all four elements, had the power to end their reign of terror. But, unfortunately, when the world needed him most, he just disappeared. Some years after the war began, the Fire Nation launched brutal raids on our tribe, taking away or killing all our Waterbenders. The Southern Water Tribe was devastated after the loss of their Benders and was never able to fully rebuild. Many had given up on the belief that Waterbending would ever become a part of the Southern Water Tribe traditions again, but those doubts ended with the births of three very special people…_

_The first of these was me…_

He had been pacing outside the tent for hours. The birth of a firstborn child is always a nerve-wracking experience. It was dark out and the snow was falling rapidly, threatening to become a blizzard. In the ancient legends of the Southern Water Tribe, a blizzard often preceded the birth of powerful Waterbenders; but that is surely just a legend.

"What's taking so long?" The man asked his friend. "I hope nothing's gone wrong."

His friend let out an exasperated sigh and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hakoda, calm down. Worrying about the situation will only make things worse."

"I know, Bato, it's just that-" He was cut off when he heard the sound of a baby's cry. The flap to the tent was pushed aside and out stepped on old woman in a thick parka. "Mom," the man said, "is everything…?"

"Go see for yourself." The old woman gestured for him to enter.

Nervously, the man entered and hesitantly made his way over to the woman who was curled up in a mountain of animal pelts. The woman looked tired, she had some drops of sweat still trickling down her face, but she was smiling happily up at her husband as she showed him the bundle that was wrapped up in clean cloths. The man gingerly took the bundle into his arms and pulled back some of the cloths to reveal the tiny newborn.

"Say hello to your daughter, Hakoda." The woman said.

The man smiled at the child, who opened her eyes to reveal the icy-blue orbs. The little girl began to fidget in the fabric until she got one tiny hand free. He held the baby closer to get a better look, when suddenly the tiny hand grabbed one of the strands of hair on the side of his head and yanked it lightly.

"Hehe." The man chuckled. "She seems very feisty."

"She gets that from me." The woman smirked smugly.

"I'll say." The man rolled his eyes. "What should we name her?"

"How about 'Nituna'?"

The man gave her the 'are you kidding?' look.

"You want her to go through the rest of her life with the name 'Nituna'? Everyone would nickname her 'Tuna' and she would never forgive us for it."

"Oh, alright. What do _you_ think we should name her?"

"How about… 'Shada'?"

"You know that name means 'pelican', right? I'm not naming my daughter after a type of weird-looking sea bird."

"Fine."

The two debated several names until they finally came to a decision.

"We'll name her 'Wenona'." The woman decided. "It's a nice name and it means 'firstborn daughter'. Can we agree on _that_?"

The man mulled it over in his head for a moment and nodded.

"'Wenona' it is then."

_I was two when my brother Sokka was born. He wasn't a Waterbender and I would later tease him about it; in a friendly, sibling way not a mean, bullying way. A year after that, my sister Katara was born. My baby sister is one of the most important people in my life and I promised that I would always look out for her and that one day we would learn Waterbending together. Then, two years after little Kit-Kat, as I nicknamed Katara, was born, our baby brother came into being. To this day, I don't understand why our parents named him Keng, as it's a very non-Water Tribe name, but I still love the little squirt. The years after that were some of the happiest of my life. However, that was ruined when the Fire Nation came and killed my mother. I never told my siblings what I witnessed that day, or even why Mom was killed, I knew that it would only make Katara and Keng feel as bad as I do that Mom died protecting the secret that we're Waterbenders. _

_A few years ago, my Dad and our tribe's warriors left to fight the Fire Nation, leaving me behind to babysit my siblings and look after the tribe along with my brother Sokka. The war has been going on for one hundred years now. Many people think that the Avatar is gone for good and that the Fire Nation will win this war. Katara hasn't given up though, and neither have I. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world._

**There it is, the first chapter in this series. I look forward to updating this soon, but I still have some other things going that I need to work on first. See you all soon.**


	2. Being the Oldest is Tough

Last of Our Kind

**In response to the review by ****Wiechcheu1925****, I mentioned in the opening of the first chapter that this will include Zutara and Taang. I do not apologize if you disagree with my ships, as I like them; I just want all shippers to get along. Please. I do not intend to pair Aang with my OC, but I do plan on making it so that Aang has a crush on her instead of Katara. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of the quotes I will use to open my chapters.**

"_Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."  
― __J.D. Salinger__, __The Catcher in the Rye_

Being the Oldest is Tough

Sometimes, Wenona wished she could just turn back time until they were all kids again. Sixteen, a few weeks shy of seventeen, was too young an age for her to be looking out for an entire tribe. Granted, the tribe consisted of a bunch of old folks, kids, and matrons, but that still didn't mean she had to enjoy being in charge. Wenona considered herself to be just a 'simple girl with simple needs', it's not like she _asked_ her dad to leave her behind to babysit everyone. And the worst part of it all was that Sokka kept acting like _he_ was the boss. Now, Wenona loved her brother, she loved all three of her little siblings, but sometimes he just got on her nerves.

"What did you just say, Sokka?"

"I said that as a man I am clearly the one in charge. Why don't you go and help Katara with her sewing or something?"

Wenona's eye twitched, and she snapped. Within seconds, Sokka found himself buried waist-deep in the ice.

"Nona! Nona, I'm sorry! Please unfreeze me!"

"Only once you admit that girls are just as strong and smart as guys, and that I'm in charge because I'm the eldest."

"Fine." Sokka grumbled. "Girls are just as strong and smart as guys. And you're in charge because you're the eldest."

"Very good." Wenona then made the ice dissolve around Sokka, leaving him standing in a small hole full of icy water.

"Nona!"

"What? You said 'unfreeze'. You're unfrozen. Now quit bugging me, Meat-head."

Wenona walked back to the tent and found Katara washing some clothes. Keng was doing some sewing because, unlike Sokka, he didn't consider it to be 'women's work' and enjoyed helping his sisters with their chores.

"Ugh." Wenona groaned. "Don't tell me we have to wash out Meat-head's socks again."

"Unfortunately, yes." Katara replied as she handed her sister a scrubbing board. Wenona winced as she picked up the article of clothing that made her want to gag at the stench.

"How does he get these things to smell so bad?" Wenona asked.

"I don't know, and I don't think I _wanna_ know."

Sokka came in a few minutes later, grumbling and shooting Wenona a dirty look which she returned with a snarky grin.

"What did you two fight about _this_ time?" Katara asked her sister.

"He was being his usual, stupid, sexist, pig-headed self." Wenona made sure she was just loud enough for Sokka to hear. He gave her another irritated look and then stormed into the back of the tent to change into a dry parka. "He just can't stand the thought of a girl telling him what to do."

"Pssh. Just ignore him. He's our brother so we _have_ to love him."

A few moments later, Sokka rushed back out and went right over to Keng.

"Keng! What are you doing?!"

"Uh, sewing." The twelve-year-old replied.

"What have I told you about sewing? It's not manly!"

"Shut up, Meat-head." Wenona snapped. "Let him help us if he wants. You're just jealous because _you_ can't do anything that requires skillful hands."

"I can _to_ do stuff. In fact, we're going fishing. Right now."

"Sokka, is this _really_ going to prove anything?"

"Yes. It'll prove that I can _so_ do something skillful. Besides, I'm hungry."

"Fine. I'll get some seal-jerky and the first-aid kit for the trip. Knowing _you_ we'll need both if we don't want to listen to you complaining every few minutes if you get hungry or get a fish-hook in your thumb again."

"It was _two_ fish-hooks and you know it."

* * *

The four siblings clambered into the small canoe and set off. It was starting to get late into the day and they still hadn't caught anything. Wenona was certain that Sokka would keep them out all night until he caught something. As more hours passed, the others were starting to get really bored. Wenona had become so desperate for something to do that she undid her hair and began restyling it. Wenona was the only one of her siblings to have black hair like their mom, the other three all had dark brown hair like their dad; winding the midnight-black locks through her fingers to comb out any tangles, Wenona then pulled the topmost part of her hair back and loosely braided the end, letting the braid hang over the rest of her hair which was straight. Sometimes Wenona liked to wear her hair like Katara, or even like their mom used to wear hers, once she had even styled it in a warrior's wolf-tail in order to annoy Sokka. Wenona often felt that she looked different from her siblings; she got more of her looks from her mother's side while the others either took after their dad or even Gran-Gran. There was even a difference between the eyes of the four siblings; Katara had their mother's Cerulean eyes that made you think you were looking at the sky, Keng had deep ocean-blue eyes like their father and grandmother, and the two eldest siblings had icy-blue eyes like the tips of polar ice-caps, neither of the siblings knew from where they had gotten their shade of eyes as none of them knew their paternal grandfather or either of their maternal grandparents so the color could've come from anywhere.

Eventually, Sokka broke the silence.

"It's not getting away from me _this_ time." Sokka stated as he looked down at a large fish.

"That's what you said the last _twenty_ times you tried to catch it." Wenona pointed out.

"Watch and learn, guys." He continued as he raised his spear. "This is how you catch a fish."

Wenona looked into the water and saw another large fish swim by and pointed it out to her other two siblings. Katara immediately began to Waterbend it above them.

"Sokka! Look!" Katara exclaimed.

"Shh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away." Sokka whispered. "Mmm. I can already smell it cookin'."

Wenona rubbed her own stomach as it growled and glared at Sokka.

"But, Sokka," Katara continued, "I caught one!"

"Yeah, Meat-head. Turn around and show a little respect." Wenona snapped.

Sokka didn't turn around, and instead raised his spear which punctured the water bubble as Katara Bended it higher, allowing the fish to escape.

"Hey!" Katara yelped.

"Ah!" Sokka cried out as water dropped onto his head, making Wenona laugh. He turned around and glared at his siblings. "Why is it that every time one of you three plays with magic water I get _soaked_?"

The girls crossed their arms while Keng just watched anxiously; he hated it when his siblings argued.

"It's not _magic_, you Meat-head." Wenona scoffed.

"It's _Waterbending_." Katara added. "And it's-"

"Yeah, yeah." Sokka interrupted. "An ancient art, unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

"Hey, Meat-head," Wenona growled, "maybe _we're_ not the weird ones. You're the only one of us who _can't_ Waterbend. And you're calling _us_ weird? We're not the ones who make muscles at ourselves whenever we see our reflections in the water."

Sokka, who had been doing just what his sister had said, was about to retort when the boat suddenly knocked into an ice-block, alerting the passengers that they were headed right for a powerful current. Sokka instantly began rowing to try and keep the boat steady, they were rapidly picking up speed and started bumping into more ice-blocks.

"Go left! Go left!" Katara yelled.

However, Sokka didn't listen and the boat crashed, forcing the four Water Tribe kids to jump onto an ice-block to avoid getting crushed.

"You call that left?" Katara snapped.

"Great going, Meat-head." Wenona said. "Now we're stranded out here and probably going to freeze to death."

"You don't like my steering?" Sokka retorted. "Well, maybe one of you should've just Waterbended us out of the ice."

"Guys," Keng spoke up, "please stop fighting."

"Oh, so you're saying it's _our_ fault?" Wenona continued to snap at Sokka.

"I _knew_ I should've left you two at home." Sokka sniped. "Leave it to _girls_ to screw things up."

"You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained…I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" Katara began to yell and flail her arms, making the large iceberg behind her crack.

"Uh, Katara?" Keng said as he pointed behind her.

Wenona stood up and began to rage as well.

"Ever since Mom died, Katara, Keng, and I have been doing all the work around camp, while _you've_ done nothing but play Mr. Soldier!" She screamed. "And I have _twice_ as much warrior training as you!"

"Uh, Wenona, Katara." Sokka tried to get their attention to the iceberg they were cracking.

"We even wash all the clothes!" Katara added. "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks?"

"They're _NOT_ PLEASANT!" Wenona shrieked in answer to her sister's rhetorical question.

"Wenona! Katara! Settle down!" Sokka and Keng pleaded.

"No, I won't settle down!" Wenona yelled.

"Me either!" Katara agreed. "We're _done_ helping you!"

"From now on…"

"You're ON YOUR OWN!" The two girls screamed at the same time, finally shattering the iceberg behind them.

Katara and Wenona finally realized what they had been doing and, along with their brothers, held onto the edge of their little ice raft when a wave came up as a result of the ice crashing down.

"Alright." Sokka said once the water calmed down. "You two have gone from weird to _freakish_."

"You mean Nona and I did that?" Katara inquired.

"Yep. Congratulations."

"Uh, guys, what's that?" Keng asked nervously as an ethereal, aquamarine light began to rise beneath them.

The light got bigger and the four backed up to the other end of the ice raft, letting out nervous gasps. Then, suddenly, an enormous iceberg arose before them. They all knew at once that there was something odd about this particular iceberg. They saw that there was a figure inside of the ice that opened its eyes to reveal glowing lights in the sockets.

"He's alive." Katara gasped. She then grabbed Sokka's club and started rushing over to the iceberg. "We have to help!"

"Katara! Get back here!" Sokka yelled after her. "We don't know what that thing is!"

Katara ignored him, and Wenona just grabbed her own warrior's club and followed after her sister, Sokka pursued them with Keng in tow. Katara and Wenona immediately set to work hacking away at the ice, which unexpectedly burst with a blast of air and ice that forced the four to fall back. Then, a flash of powerful, bluish light erupted in the form of a beam from the top of the shattering iceberg. Sokka and Wenona shielded their younger siblings as the mist suddenly cleared away. Then, a figure emerged. Sokka raised his spear defensively.

"Stop!" The Water Tribe teen warned.

"Yeah, Meat-head," Wenona mocked him, "I'm sure some weird, glowing thing is going to be _so_ scared of a guy with a spear."

Then, the light went out, and the figure turned out to be a bald boy in yellow and orange robes with a blue arrow tattooed on his forehead. The boy collapsed forward and tumbled down to where they were. Katara and Wenona darted forward to catch him as Sokka pushed Keng behind him protectively. Sokka then started to prod the unconscious boy's head with the dull end of the spear.

"Cut it out, Meat-head." Wenona snapped as she swatted the weapon away.

The two girls laid the boy against the slope and he gave a light moan as his eyes started to open slowly and he let out a gasp.

"I need to ask you something." The boy murmured.

"What?" Wenona asked.

"Please. Come closer."

"What is it?"

There was a pause as Wenona began to lean in towards the boy and he suddenly shot wide awake.

"Will you go penguin-sledding with me?"

"Uhh. Sure, I guess."

The boy then got to his feet, moving so quickly it made Sokka startle back and raise his spear.

"What's going on here?"

"You tell us?!" Sokka demanded. "How'd you get in the ice?! And why aren't you frozen?!" Sokka lightly jabbed the boy with the spear.

"I'm not sure."

Just then, they all heard a loud growling sound, causing the boy to race back over the ice wall.

Wenona began to walk around to the other side when Sokka put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Uh, going to see what that was all about. Duh."

She brushed his hand off and led the other three around to where they saw the mysterious boy hugging a giant, fuzzy creature with horns and six legs and a patch of brown fur on its head that formed the shape of an arrow. When Sokka saw the creature, he let out a disbelieving gasp and his eyes went wide.

"Whoa." Wenona said. "That's one big…whatever the heck that is."

"Cool!" Keng exclaimed as he rushed over to see the strange animal up close.

"What is _that_ thing?" Sokka asked as he and the others advanced more slowly.

"This is Appa, my flying-bison." The boy explained.

"Right." Sokka replied sarcastically. "And these two are my flying sisters."

Suddenly, Appa started to sniffle and was about to sneeze.

"Duck and cover!" Wenona shouted as she yanked Katara out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by the disgusting goo that shot out of the animal's nose. Sokka, however, wasn't so fortunate.

"Ahahaha!" Wenona laughed as Sokka began to spazz out. "Oh man, you _totally_ had that coming, Meat-head!"

"Don't worry." The boy said. "It'll wash out. So, do you guys live around here?"

Before any of them could answer, Sokka pointed his spear at the boy again.

"Don't answer that." He warned his siblings. "Did you all see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy."

"Oh, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy." Katara said sarcastically. "You can tell by that evil look in his eye." The boy gave a look of total innocence.

"Come on, Sokka." Wenona said. "Why in the name of the Great Spirit Mother would the Fire Navy have anything to report about us right now? What, do they need to know if we've gotten any new snow-drifts or what the latest turtle-seal population is?"

"Hardy-har-har." Sokka replied.

"Ignore him." Wenona said to the boy. "Our brother is just a little paranoid. I'm Wenona by the way, but everyone just calls me Nona." She offered him a handshake that he happily accepted. "This is my sister Katara and the boy trying to climb onto your flying-bison is our younger brother Keng."

"What's _your_ name?" Katara asked.

"I'm Aaaaaa-" The boy was cut off as a sneeze began to rise in him. "ACHOOOO!" He shot straight up into the air only to land a few seconds later. "I'm Aang."

"You just sneezed," Sokka pointed out, "and flew ten feet in the air."

"Really? It felt higher than that."

"You're an Airbender." Katara gasped.

"No, really," Wenona joked, "what was your first clue?"

"Giant light beams, flying-bison, Airbenders. I think I got Midnight Sun Madness." Sokka stated.

"Maybe if you did you would be less irritating." Wenona said with a smirk.

"I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." He turned only to see that they were all stranded.

"Yeah, Sokka, you just do that." Wenona's voice was dripping with irony. "You'll just prance across the water and send someone to get us."

"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang offered as he Airbended himself onto the bison's head.

"Really?" Keng asked enthusiastically. "Awesome!"

"We'd love a ride. Thanks!" Katara said as she and Wenona moved to get onto the bison.

"Oh-no." Sokka protested. "I am _not_ getting on that fluffy snot-monster."

"Are you hoping some _other_ kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?" Katara asked jokingly as Wenona began to chuckle quietly. "You know, before you _freeze_ to death?"

Sokka opened his mouth to protest, then sighed and slumped when he saw there was no use arguing. Sokka drudged irately over to the side of the bison and Wenona pulled him up into the large saddle where the Water Tribe siblings all sat down.

"Okay." Aang said from his seat on Appa's head. "First time flyers hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!"

Appa leapt into the air, but instead of flying he belly-flopped into the water, almost throwing Keng from the saddle, luckily Wenona caught him.

"Come on, Appa, yip-yip!" Aang declared again as he shook the reins.

"Wow." Sokka stated sarcastically. "That was truly amazing."

"Shut up, Meat-head." Wenona snapped.

"Maybe Appa's just tired." Keng suggested.

"Yeah." Aang agreed. "A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see."

Wenona was about to turn away when she noticed that Aang was still looking at her with a big smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked.

"Oh, I was smiling?" Aang asked.

Sokka let out a disgusted groan and rolled his eyes.

"Sokka," Wenona said in the sweetest voice she could bring herself to make, "if you promise not to annoy me for the rest of the ride home, I'll give you the whole bag of seal jerky." She waved the bag temptingly in front of him, only for him to snatch it moments later.

"Deal!" He declared and instantly began scarfing down the contents.

* * *

It was getting dark, and the bison was steadily making its way through the water in the direction of the village. Wenona was staring up at the sky; she heard Aang and Katara talking but didn't really pay attention. That is, of course, until she heard the word 'Avatar'.

"I was just wondering," Katara said, "your being an Airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar?"

"Uh, no." Aang replied. "I didn't know him. I mean, I _knew_ people that knew him, but I didn't. Sorry."

"Okay. Just curious. Goodnight."

"Sleep tight."

After Katara had settled down, Wenona got up and tiptoed over to the edge of the saddle where Katara had been.

"You really expect us to buy that?" She said to the young Airbender.

"Oh, hi, Nona." Aang greeted nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"Aang, Katara might be naïve enough to believe you, and Sokka is dim enough that stuff just goes straight through what little brain he has, but I'm not that gullible. You know something that you're not telling us."

"What?" Aang tried to sound convincing. "Of course not. You're crazy. Crazy talk is coming out of your mouth right now. Heh. Well, I'm tired." He gave an exaggerated yawn. "G'night." And then lay down to go to sleep.

Wenona rolled her eyes and turned back, lying down to get some rest herself. She woke up a few hours later and the village was in sight. A crowd of their fellow tribe-members was waiting there anxiously. Wenona woke up her siblings and together they moved the sleeping Airbender into a tent so he could finish sleeping. A couple hours before midday, Katara decided to wake Aang up and led him out to meet the village.

"Why are they all looking at me like that?" Aang asked. "Did Appa sneeze on me?"

"Well, no one has seen an Airbender in a hundred years." Gran-Gran said. "We thought they were extinct, until my grandchildren found _you_."

"Extinct?"

"Aang," Wenona stepped over to him, "this is our grandmother."

"Call me Gran-Gran." The old woman stated.

Sokka walked over to Aang and snatched his staff.

"What is this, a weapon?" He asked. "You can't stab anything with this."

Wenona swiped it away from him and handed it back to Aang.

"Ya know, Meat-head, it's rude to take other people's stuff without permission."

"It's not for stabbing." Aang explained. "It's for Airbending." Aang made the staff open into a glider.

"Magic trick!" One of the younger children exclaimed. "Do it again!"

"Not magic. _Airbending_." Aang continued. "It lets me control the air-currents around my glider and fly."

"Ya know, last time I checked, humans can't fly." Sokka snarked.

"Check again." Aang zoomed straight up into the air and started flying around with his glider.

"Whoa. Pretty awesome." Keng gasped.

"Ya gotta admit, Sokka, that _is_ really neat." Wenona remarked.

Aang got so caught up in putting on a show for the villagers that he didn't pay attention to where he was going and crashed into Sokka's watchtower.

Sokka let out a pained gasp.

"My watchtower." He whined.

Wenona rolled her eyes and went over to help Aang.

"That was amazing." Katara told him.

"Amazing? More like the awesomest thing we've ever seen!" Keng exclaimed.

Sokka tried to steady the crumbling structure only to find himself buried underneath a mound of snow.

"Great." Sokka said with annoyance. "You're an Airbender, those three are Waterbenders." He pointed to his siblings. "Together, you four can just waste time all day long." He stood up and shook off the snow and stormed off.

"You guys are Waterbenders?" Aang asked.

"Well, sort of." Katara replied. "Not yet."

"Alright." Gran-Gran interrupted them. "No more playing. Come on, Katara, Keng, you two have chores. Wenona, you need to help Sokka with the children. Make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"Sure, Gran-Gran." Wenona responded. "See ya later, Aang. Try not to cause too much trouble. Okay?"

"Sure thing!" Aang exclaimed.

**Hope you liked this first 'official' chapter in the series. I'll be posting the next one soon, so stay tuned. **


	3. I Totally Saw That Coming

Last of Our Kind

**Yes, I'm back. I was eager to get to the next chapter so, here you go. Also, I apologize for any choppiness in the story, but I don't feel as though I need to write every single word. I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"_One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."  
― __Martin Luther King Jr._

I Totally Saw That Coming

"Now, men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a Firebender. In the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing. For, without courage, how can we call ourselves _men_?"

The six little boys all stared at Sokka and Wenona wanted to burst out laughing. Wenona had to admit that, under different circumstances, his speech would probably be pretty empowering, but come on. He was talking to _children_. Suddenly one of the boys raised his hand.

"I gotta pee." The child declared.

"Listen!" Sokka exclaimed. "Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on you to be the men of this tribe. And that means _no_ potty-breaks."

"But I really gotta go."

"Go ahead, kid." Wenona said. The child leapt up and made a dash for the toilet.

"Nona!" Sokka exclaimed. "You're usurping my authority!"

"Sokka, I believe you've forgotten who's in charge here." She then turned to the rest of the children. "Anyone else need to take a potty-break?" They all raised their hands. "Go ahead, but come right back when you're done."

As they all rushed off, Sokka turned to glare at his sister.

"What?" She asked with a shrug.

"You just _love_ taking away my status, don't you?" He grumbled.

"Sokka, I trained as a warrior before you did, so I clearly have more authority. You know Dad wanted us _both_ to keep the tribe safe and to make sure that everything runs smoothly, but I'm the eldest so I have seniority. And you're training _children_, you can't seriously expect them to stay focused for very long."

"Nona, we're in a war-"

"And it hasn't got anything to do with them yet. They're just kids, let them be."

Wenona affectionately placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. Just then, Katara came over to them.

"Hey, Kit-Kat, what's up?" Wenona asked.

"Please stop calling me that." Katara responded.

"The day I do that is the day I stop calling Sokka 'Meat-head'."

"Whatever." Katara sighed. "Have either of you seen Aang? Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago."

Wenona turned her head to see someone in yellow and orange clothes emerge from the lavatory.

"Wow." Aang said. "_Everything_ freezes in there." The kids all started laughing.

"Ugh!" Sokka let out an annoyed grunt. "Katara, Wenona, get him out of here. This lesson is for _warriors_ only."

"Wow, he must _really_ be cranked." Wenona said to her sister as they walked away from Sokka. "He used my full name."

The air was pierced by the sound of a child exclaiming 'wheeee!' as he slid down Appa's tail that Aang and Keng had propped up to make a slide. A whole bunch of children were laughing in the snow-pile they had landed on. Katara and Wenona began to laugh too.

"Stop!" Sokka yelled as he stumbled towards the bison. "Stop it right now! What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a _war_ going on."

"What war?" Aang inquired as he leapt off the bison. "What are you talking about?"

"You're kidding, right?"

Aang's attention was then diverted when he saw something in the distance.

"PENGUIN!" He raced after the adorable creature.

"He's kidding, right?"

Wenona gave Sokka a 'look'.

"Sure he's kidding." She said sarcastically. "Just look at the way he _kidded_ after that penguin."

"Hey, Aang, wait for me!" Keng called after his friend.

"Come on, Kit-Kat." Wenona said as she gently grabbed her sister's arm and began to pull her along. "We'd better make sure those two don't hurt themselves."

They eventually caught up with their brother and the Airbender, who were both attempting to catch penguins to go penguin-sledding. Wenona shook her head and smiled at the attempts of the twelve-year-olds.

"Remember when _we_ used to do that?" Wenona asked her sister.

"Yeah." Katara responded before moving closer to the two boys.

"I have a way with animals." Aang stated and then proceeded to imitate the penguins, making the older girls chuckle.

"Aang," Katara addressed the boy, "I'll help you catch a penguin, if you teach us Waterbending."

"You got a deal. Just one little problem, I'm an Airbender not a Waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you guys?"

"No." Katara said despondently as Wenona put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Aang," Wenona said, "Katara, Keng, and I are the last Waterbenders of the South Pole. The others are all…_gone_." She choked out the last word. "We're the last of our kind."

"This isn't right." Aang stated. "Waterbenders need to master water. What about the _North Pole_? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe _they_ have Waterbenders who can teach you."

"Maybe." Katara shrugged. "But we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly 'turn right at the second glacier'. It's on the other side of the world."

"And I doubt if the Northern Tribe will help us." Wenona said. "Years ago, our dad tried to send a letter to them to request a Waterbending teacher for us. Guess what? No answer." Wenona neglected to mention the fact that, only months after their father had sent the request, the tribe had been raided and their mother was killed.

"But you guys forgot, I have a flying-bison. Appa and I will _personally_ fly you two and Keng to the North Pole. We're gonna find you guys a master."

"That's…" Katara struggled to find the right words to say, "I mean…"

"That's a lot to ask of us, Aang." Wenona finished for her sister. "None of us have ever left our tribe before."

"Well, you guys think about it." Aang concluded. "But in the meantime, can you teach me to catch one of these penguins?"

Keng soon joined their company by being dragged along as he held the tail of a penguin as it waddled past them.

"Alright!" The Water Tribe boy exclaimed. "Time to get our penguin-sledding on!"

"Okay." Wenona said. "Listen up, my young pupils. Penguin-sledding is an ancient and sacred tradition of the Water Tribe that has been passed down through the millennia. If my top student will demonstrate?" Wenona gestured to Katara.

"Gladly, oh great and wise Penguin-sledding Master." The younger girl replied with a mock bow. "Observe." She produced a fish that she handed to Aang, who was subsequently swarmed by penguins.

* * *

"Uh, what the heck are you doing?" Wenona asked as Aang began to walk towards the Fire Navy ship.

"I wanna check it out." He replied.

"Aang, we're not allowed to go near it." Katara insisted. "The ship could be booby-trapped."

"If you guys wanna be Benders, you have to let go of fear."

"Come on, you guys." Keng said as he pulled on his sisters' arms. "I've always wanted to see what's inside."

"Uh-uh." Wenona shook her head. "I'm not going in there. And I advise you three to follow my lead on this."

"Come on, Nona." Aang tried to encourage her but she turned her back and let out a huff. "Well, what about _you_ guys?"

"Count _me_ in." Keng went straight over to his friend.

"Katara?"

Katara grimaced slightly but followed after them. Wenona turned around and saw them going in.

"Idiots." She muttered.

About twenty minutes later, a flare went off from the ship. Wenona was startled for a moment, and then got angry and worried, but she was relieved when Aang leapt out of the top of the vessel with her two youngest siblings.

"I told you that was a bad idea." Wenona scolded them.

"Sorry." Aang responded with a sheepish grin.

Wenona rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Let's get back. We are going to be in _so_ much trouble. And when I say 'we', I really mean you three knuckle-heads."

* * *

The four made their way back to the village as quickly as they could, only to be met at the entrance by some very irritated older people and naively happy children.

"I _knew_ it!" Sokka proclaimed. "You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare!" He pointed an accusing finger at Aang. "You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

"Aang didn't do anything." Katara protested. "It was an accident."

"How many times do I need to say this?" Wenona muttered. "I. Told. You. So."

"Yeah." Aang continued. "We were on the ship and there was this booby-trap, and well…we-we 'boobied' right into it."

"What?" Gran-Gran exclaimed. "You shouldn't have gone there. Now we could _all _be in danger. Wenona, how could you be so irresponsible as to allow your siblings to go onto that ship?"

"Don't blame Wenona." Aang defended the Waterbender. "She tried to talk us out of it. I was the one who led Katara and Keng onto the ship. It's _my_ fault."

"Ah-ha!" Sokka declared. "The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy!" He ordered the children, who were saddened as they walked away from Aang. "The foreigner is _banished_ from our village!"

"Sokka, you're making a mistake." Katara protested.

"No. I'm keeping my promise to Dad." He looked at Wenona. "Nona, you're obligated to support me in this. We need to protect this tribe from threats like _him_." He pointed a finger at Aang again.

"Aang isn't a threat." Wenona snapped. "Stupid and careless perhaps, but certainly not dangerous. You have no right to accuse him of being our enemy."

"Wenona, you of all people should understand the importance of doing what's best for our tribe." Sokka had lowered his voice so that it was quite clear that he was very serious about this.

"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara retorted. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun."

"Fun?! We can't fight Firebenders with _fun_."

"You should try it sometime." Aang suggested.

"Get out of our village. _Now_."

"Grandmother, please." Katara pleaded. "Don't let Sokka do this."

"Katara, you _knew_ going on that ship was forbidden." The old woman replied. "Sokka is right. I think it best if the Airbender leaves."

"Fine! Then we're banished too!"

"Katara?" Wenona turned a shocked look to her sister.

"Nona, Keng, Aang, come on!" She turned and started to walk away, pulling Aang behind her.

"Where do you think you three are going?" Sokka demanded.

"To find a Waterbender. Aang's taking us to the North Pole!"

"I am? Great!" Aang exclaimed.

Wenona and Keng stood where they were and exchanged uncertain looks.

"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed. "Would you really choose _him_ and force your siblings to choose _him_ over your tribe?! Your own family."

Katara stopped and Aang turned to her.

"Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family." He said and then proceeded to move towards Appa.

"So, you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asked. "This is goodbye?"

"Thanks for penguin-sledding with me." He then looked over at Keng and Wenona. "It was nice spending time with you guys."

"Same here, Air-head." Wenona said teasingly but with a sad smile.

"Where will you go?" Katara continued.

Wenona looked away, ignoring the rest of their exchange. Something in her was saying that they need to go, but another part was saying that they needed to stay. She only looked up when Aang yelled a goodbye.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air-boy." Sokka said mockingly, causing Wenona to elbow him and glare.

The bison still didn't fly. One of the little girls ran over to the bison and looked up at Aang with tearful eyes and pleaded with him not to leave. Aang still had to leave and turned Appa as the two began their departure. Gran-Gran attempted to talk to Katara, who just yelled angrily in response and stormed off. The old woman then turned to Wenona and Keng who looked away sadly. Sokka began to rally the little boys, saying that the Fire Nation could be there at any moment. Wenona snapped to attention.

"Sokka, don't you think you're overreacting?" She inquired. "How do you even know that there are any Fire Navy ships in the area?"

"I just _know_, Wenona." He retorted. "Are you gonna help me or not? I need every fighter I can get."

"You're seriously asking _me_? A _girl_?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Wenona, we don't have time for arguments. Just get into battle-gear."

The two rushed off to their tents and began to put on their warrior uniforms. Wenona's gear looked a lot like her brother's, only it had a few more embellishments as she was more highly trained as a warrior than her brother, as well as the fact that she was next in line to be the Chief. She moved her hand to her throat and caressed the necklace that she wore there. Years earlier, she had worn the necklace that her mother had worn; it had originally belonged to Gran-Gran who had given it to her son in order for him to propose to Kya with it. After Kya's death, Wenona had given the necklace to Katara and wore a different necklace. The necklace she wore was made of woven, white cords that held an electric-blue pendant that had been engraved with the symbol of a lotus rising out of a crescent moon. She had received the necklace years ago from a mysterious traveler she had met when she got lost in a snowstorm. The person who gave her the gift called herself Setna, the same name as the Great Spirit Mother, and assured her that the pendant was a symbol of protection. She tied her long black hair up into a wolf-tail and fastened it with a ceremonial comb in the shape of a wolf's head with an upward pointing crescent moon on the top. She knew that it would be dangerous to use her Waterbending and instead loaded herself up with her club, her dagger, and her bow and arrows. After applying the special face-paint, she went outside to stand beside her brother on the wall of the village.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Assuming something happens? Yes." She replied.

Meanwhile, below them in the village, Katara and Keng were watching nervously.

"Do you think they're gonna be okay?" Keng asked.

"Of course they are." Katara assured him. "And maybe nothing's gonna happen anyway." However, she doubted her own words.

The two warriors crouched in place on the wall, scanning the horizon, all being wary as they peered into the mist and fog. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling. Wenona felt her heart pounding in her chest.

"Oh man." Sokka whined as his watchtower collapsed.

"Worry about that later, Meat-head." Wenona snapped. "We've got company."

A huge ship had begun to emerge from the fog.

"Oh man." Sokka gasped.

As the ship began to cut into the side of the village, Wenona grabbed her brother who was frozen in fear and slid them both down the wall to fall back into the village as their fellow tribe-members ran back in sheer terror. They stood back as the prow of the ship began to lower with a loud hiss, getting into battle-stances. The other Water Tribe people stood around, staring at the monstrosity that had just landed on their shores.

"Don't charge until you see the evil in their eyes." Wenona whispered.

Soon, a young man and a few guards came out of the ship. Wenona and Sokka crouched in a threatening manner. Then, without warning, Sokka ran screaming at the man, only to get knocked into the snow-pile. Wenona slapped her forehead.

"Idiot." She muttered.

Wenona straightened herself as the man drew nearer. She squared her shoulders and stood tall, brandishing her club threateningly.

"You're not welcome here!" She yelled. "Get out, Fire Nation _scum_!"

"Silence, you _peasant_!" The man yelled back at her.

That made her get annoyed. Who was he calling a peasant? Wenona was the firstborn child of the Chief; therefore she was as good as a princess.

"How _dare_ you?!" She roared back. "Get out of our tribe!"

The man sent a wave of fire at her, but she ducked and rolled.

"Nona!" Keng shouted as he tried to rush over, but Katara held him back.

Wenona quickly withdrew her bow and an arrow and, faster than lightning, fired it at the man. The man saw it coming and incinerated it. She glared and pulled out her knife, and charged. She ducked under the fire-blasts that were sent her way. She slashed at the man with her weapon, but he swerved at each jab. Noticing that her opponent was standing on the snow, Wenona discreetly waved her hand, making some snow form around his foot to throw him off-balance. He toppled to the ground.

"Are you going to cooperate?" Wenona demanded as the man got to his feet with a furious look on his face.

The man suddenly grabbed her arm and twisted it, making her cry out.

"Nona!" Keng exclaimed again. He forced himself out of Katara's hold and ran right over to the fight. The boy lunged at the man, forcing him to release the girl.

"Leave my big sister alone!" Keng shouted.

The man wrestled the boy off of him and pushed him away. He stood in front of the people and looked them over for a moment.

"You know why I'm here." The man declared.

Wenona's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't know, right? How would he know that there are more Waterbenders here?

"Where are you hiding him?" He continued.

_Him? Oh, no_. Wenona thought. _Aang_.

The man suddenly snatched Gran-Gran from the crowd.

"He'd be about _this_ age. Master of all elements."

When no one responded, the man shoved Gran-Gran back to them. The man shot a stream of fire in the direction of the villagers.

"I _know_ you're hiding him."

Now, Wenona was mad.

"You just made a _big_ mistake, pal." She snapped. "No one threatens my people like that and gets away with it."

She charged at him again, skillfully slashing her knife, aiming to kill. Sokka, who had finally pulled himself out of the snow, ran at the man from the other side, brandishing his club. The man ducked Sokka's attack and the boy went flying overhead, he managed to barely duck out of the way of a fire-blast and throw his boomerang. Wenona threw her knife at the man's back, but he dodged just in time to avoid being struck. One of the little boys threw Sokka a spear.

"Show no fear!" The child declared.

Sokka charged again, but the man smashed the spear as it came towards him and snatched what was left of it, jabbing Sokka in the head with it before snapping the rest of it to pieces. Sokka sat on the ground, rubbing his head, as the man glared down at him, when Wenona noticed a glint in the distance and smirked. Sokka's boomerang zoomed back and knocked into the man's head, disorienting him for a brief moment, only to make him very angry. The man produced flames from his fists and began to advance. Wenona was about to charge again, when a figure on a penguin rushed in and knocked the man over.

"Aang!" Wenona exclaimed.

"Hey, Wenona." Aang greeted and turned to the other three. "Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Hey, Keng."

"Hi, Aang. Thanks for coming." Sokka said glumly.

The man stood up and got into a battle-stance and his guards surrounded Aang. Aang suddenly blasted air at the ground, whipping up snow at his attackers.

"Looking for _me_?" The boy asked.

"You're the Airbender?" The man asked. "_You're_ the Avatar?"

"Aang?" Katara gasped.

"No way." Sokka added.

"Cool." Keng murmured.

"Ha!" Wenona exclaimed. "I _so_ called it!" Her siblings looked at her as if to say 'this is not the time'.

Aang and the man circled each other.

"I've spent years preparing for this encounter." The man said. "Training. Meditating. You're just a _child_!"

"Well, you're just a teenager." Aang retorted simply.

It then dawned on Wenona that Aang was right. This man was actually just a kid like the rest of them. He was probably about the same age as Wenona herself, maybe even a little younger. The Fire Nation teen did not seem to take kindly to Aang's words and shot fire at him which he deflected with his glider. When Aang heard the sounds of the villagers screaming as the fire came dangerously close, he stopped.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" Aang asked.

His opponent nodded and the guards came over to take the boy. Keng couldn't let this happen now that he knew the truth about his friend.

"No!" He yelled as he shot a stream of water at the guards. When he realized what he had done, his eyes widened. "Oops."

"A Waterbender?" The Fire Nation teen stated. "I thought the raids wiped them all out down here. Seize him!"

Sokka and Wenona darted forward.

"No!" They both declared as they pulled the boy behind them.

"Stay away from our little brother!" Wenona said menacingly. "You monsters have done enough!"

"Don't you dare come any closer!" Sokka growled.

"Leave them alone!" Aang pleaded. "You're only here for _me_!"

The Fire Nation teen disregarded them and motioned for his men to advance. Wenona and Sokka wouldn't move aside and raised their weapons. Katara was clutching onto Keng, refusing to ever let him go; determined that the only way those Firebenders would get him was to pry him from her cold, dead hands. Keng hung his head, he knew that it was his own recklessness that brought this on; so, grudgingly, he squirmed his way out of Katara's arms and moved forward.

"Keng, what are you doing?!" Katara yelled.

"Squirt!" Wenona shouted. "Get back here!"

"Keng!" Sokka added desperately.

The boy turned to his older siblings with a sad face.

"Guys." He said to them. "They won't leave unless they get what they want. I'll be fine." He went to stand beside Aang and the two were led into the ship.

"Aang! Keng! No! Don't do this!" Wenona cried out.

"It's okay, Nona." Keng replied. "We'll be alright. I promise." He gave a sad smile. "I love you guys."

"It's going to be okay!" Aang called back in agreement as the two boys were being shoved up to the ship. "Take care of Appa for me until we get back!"

"Head a course to the Fire Nation!" The Fire Nation teen yelled to his men. "I'm going home."

The two boys looked back at the Water Tribe villagers as the entrance to the ship closed with another loud hiss. Keng was absolutely terrified, he knew what the Fire Nation was capable of, but he promised himself that he would make sure his friend would be alright.

* * *

As the rest of the tribe set about repairing the damage done by the Fire Nation ship, two sisters stared out at the horizon. Wenona and Katara didn't turn around when they heard Sokka approach behind them.

"We _have_ to go after that ship, Sokka." Katara insisted. "Keng's our little brother and Aang saved our tribe. Now _we_ have to save them."

"Katara, I-"

"Why can't you realize that he's on our side?!"

"And we can't just let the Fire Nation take away our brother!" Wenona snapped. "If we don't help them, no one will!

"We _know_ you don't like Aang, but we owe him-"

"Katara! Nona!" The two finally turned to face him. "Are you two gonna talk all day or are you coming _with_ me?!"

The two girls gasped and ran to hug their brother.

"Sokka, you really _do_ care." Wenona stated.

"Get in." He instructed. "We're going to save our brother and your boyfriend."

"He's not my-"

"Whatever."

"What do you three think you're doing?" Gran-Gran asked as she interrupted them. The three tried to act innocent, but were panicking inside. The old woman smiled and handed them some more supplies. "You'll need these. You have a long journey ahead of you."

"Gran-Gran," Wenona stated, "you're serious?"

"Yes. It's been so long since I've had hope. But you brought it back to life my little Waterbenders, you and Keng." The two girls hugged their grandmother. Gran-Gran then turned to Sokka. "And you, my brave warrior, be nice to your sisters." She then hugged him.

"Yeah, okay, Gran." He responded unenthusiastically, but with a smile.

"Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You three and Keng found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his."

The three siblings exchanged looks for a moment.

"There's _no way_ we're going to catch a warship with a canoe." Katara pointed out.

They then heard a loud grumbling sound and saw a certain flying-bison just up ahead.

"Appa." Katara and Wenona exclaimed excitedly.

"You two just _love_ taking me out of my comfort zone, don't'cha?" Sokka inquired rhetorically.

* * *

Meanwhile, on a Fire Nation warship.

The two boys had heard the teenage boy referred to as Prince Zuko. Zuko had taken Aang's glider and was inspecting it.

"This staff will make an excellent gift for my father." He stated and then looked at Aang. "I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks."

"He might not, but I know about fathers." Keng spoke up. "I haven't seen mine in two years though. He's off fighting in the war that _your_ people started."

"Silence, peasant!"

"I'm not a peasant! And when my big brother and sisters get here, you're gonna regret the day you messed with the Water Tribe!"

"I said 'silence'!" Zuko turned to his men. "Take the Avatar and his friend to the prison-hold." He then handed the staff to an old man. "And take _this_ to my quarters."

The two boys were being shoved along by the soldiers. Keng really hated being shoved; it was the one thing he just really couldn't stand. Normally, Keng was a quiet, shy kid who never really gave anyone trouble; but, in situations like this, he had a personality change and a feeling of anger would surface in him.

"Quit your shoving, Fire Nation scum!" He yelled. "I hope you face the torments of the Dark Spirit Realm! May Setna curse you for all time!"

"Silence, you little whelp!" The guard restraining him snapped.

Aang threw his friend a cautioning look. Soon, the two were split up. Keng looked back as Aang was led along a different corridor. Keng knew that he had to do some quick-thinking if he was ever going to get out of this. He just needed the right distraction. Luck was on his side, as it turned out, when the loud sound of rushing air was heard. The guard who had been leading Keng to his cell went to see what had just happened, and Keng took the opportunity to swing his foot behind that of the guard restraining him and tripped him. Keng wriggled his hands out of the ropes that they had been bound with and made a mad dash to evade his captors. Keng saw Aang making his own escape and tried to follow after him, but it's difficult to keep up with an Airbender. Keng got out on deck, most of the guards were focused on capturing Aang but a few noticed him. Keng spotted some puddles of water on the ground and focused as hard as he could to move them and freeze his adversaries in place, he only managed to freeze their feet though, but it was good enough for him. Soon, he saw Aang leaping through the sky on his glider, only to be pursued by Prince Zuko, who had jumped after him and grabbed hold of his ankle, dragging the boy down to the deck. Zuko was about to advance on Aang, when Keng Bended water onto the teen's feet and froze it. Just then, there was the sound of a loud groan and they all looked up to see something flying through the air.

"What is that?" Zuko thought aloud.

"Appa!" The twelve-year-old boys exclaimed cheerfully.

* * *

As the four Water Tribe siblings and the Airbender Avatar flew away on Appa, it was only natural that questions would be asked.

"How did you _do_ that?!" Katara exclaimed. "With the water!"

"It was unbelievable!" Keng added. "The most amazing thing _ever_!"

"I don't know." Aang replied. "I just sort of…did it."

"Aang, I think we are in need of some explanations." Wenona stated. "Why didn't you just tell us you're the Avatar?"

"Because…I never wanted to be."

They sat in silence for a little while, until Wenona went over and put a hand on Aang's shoulder.

"Aang, the world's been waiting a hundred years for you to come and end the war."

"And how am I going to do that?"

"Duh, you're the _Avatar_. You just have to master all four elements. No biggie." She replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's what the monks told me."

"Well, obviously now since we're going to the North Pole, we can find you a teacher so you can master Waterbending."

"The four of us can learn it together!"

"And, Sokka," Katara added, "I'm sure you'll get to knock some Firebender heads along the way."

"I'd like that." The older boy replied. "I'd _really_ like that."

"Then we're all in this together."

"Alright." Aang spoke up. "But before I learn Waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang produced a map and pointed out a few locations. Upon being asked, he explained his completely hair-brained reasons for wanting to go to each place.

Wenona leaned back as she sat down next to Sokka.

"Things are gonna be really different now, aren't they?" Sokka asked.

"Sometimes, change is good."

"Yeah, but it's not easy."

"Nope. But it's even harder to try and fight it. I think this is just the start of something bigger."

**Ahh, finally got this chapter taken care of. See you all soon. Oh, one last thing, the mention of the person named 'Setna' is part of my headcanon for the Southern Water Tribe. In my headcanon, Avatar Setna founded the Southern Water Tribe thousands of years earlier; she was the first Water Tribe Avatar and the first person to be born to the title as the first Avatar was an androgynous being of raw power formed to combat the rise of a group of dark-energy beings. Avatar Setna founded the Southern Tribe because of the discriminations against women in the Northern Tribe, her love for the people who helped her pioneer the South Pole earned her the status of Great Spirit Mother after her death, and it is believed she is the protectress of the Southern Tribe. You can find mentions of her in some of my other works on my profile page, especially in 'Kanna's Story: The Journey'. Well, stay tuned, I'll be updating again in the near future.**


	4. I've Been There

Last of Our Kind

**Yep, another post already. I really get into new stories when I write them, but I start to slow down a bit later on. Well, you all know the drill. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"_The persons on whom I have bestowed my dearest love lie deep in their graves; but, although the happiness and delight of my life lie buried there too, I have not made a coffin of my heart, and sealed it up forever on my best affections. Deep affliction has only made them stronger; it ought, I think, for it should refine our nature."  
― __Charles Dickens__, __Oliver Twist_

I've Been There

Wenona hadn't slept well that night. She kept tossing and turning in her sleeping bag, having a really bizarre dream. In the dream, she was standing on the top of a rock pillar with three other women, each of them from the other three nations. Suddenly, a dark form arose in the distance. She heard evil, sinister voices coming from the darkness that filled her with terror. Then, she and the other women knelt down and their eyes began to glow, she instinctively knew that hers were glowing too. The light from the Earth Kingdom girl immediately to her left was green, the Fire Nation girl next to her had red light coming from her eyes, and the Air Nomad girl had yellow light coming from her eyes and tattoos; Wenona could only guess that her eyes were glowing in a blue light. The darkness drew closer and began to circle the four women. Then, without warning, Wenona felt a surge of energy rushing through her body that forced her to look straight up in the sky, her mouth open and her eyes wide as the energy tried to escape. That was when she woke up in a cold sweat. She looked around; the sun was just barely rising in the distance. She heaved a sigh, she really hated mornings.

"Good morning, everyone!" Aang exclaimed cheerfully.

"Shhh, Aang, not so loud." Wenona grumbled. "It's way too early for this much noise."

"Oh, sorry." Aang whispered.

Slowly, the others started to wake up.

"Wooo! Air Temple time!" Keng shouted enthusiastically.

"I can't wait for you guys to see it." Aang said. "The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world."

"Aang." Katara spoke up. "I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home."

"That's why I'm so excited."

"It's just that…a lot can change in all that time."

"Come on, Kit-Kat, don't be such a downer." Wenona said, her mood drastically improved since waking up. "We don't know _what_ we'll find there."

"Yeah, I need to see it for myself." Aang concluded.

Aang then leapt down from Appa's head and made his way over to the sleeping form of Sokka.

"Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple, here we come!"

"Sleep now. Temple later." Sokka grumbled as he turned away and went back to sleep.

Keng came over and whispered to Aang that Sokka really hated snakes. A devious look crept over the young Avatar's face and he picked up a stick.

"Sokka! Wake up!" Aang then moved the end of the stick over the top of the sleeping bag. "There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!"

"Ahhhh!" The Water Tribe boy exclaimed as he shot up and began hopping around, still encased in his sleeping bag. "Get it off! Get it off! Ahhh!" He fell forward with a thump while the others began to chuckle at his misfortune.

"Great, you're awake." Aang stated. "Let's go."

* * *

"So, where do I get somethin' to eat?" Sokka inquired as the group made their way up the path around the cliffs to the temple. He was clutching at his stomach hungrily and making his grumpy-face.

"Man, I'm starving." Wenona added. Like her brother, she had a pretty big appetite. "Why did Aang have to make the campfire out of our seal-jerky? I mean _really_, how could anyone think it was anything other than food?"

"You two are lucky enough to be some of the first outsiders to _ever_ visit an Airbender temple, and all either of you can think about is _food_?" Katara inquired.

"We're just simple folks, with simple needs." Sokka explained. Food was one of the few areas where he and Wenona agreed, and it was as if the two of them had their stomachs programmed to get hungry at the exact same time.

The four Water Tribe kids walked up to where their Air Nomad friend stood waiting and looking out at the remnants of his old home. Aang pointed down to a place where there was a collection of goal posts.

"So that's where my friends and I would play air-ball." Aang said. He then pointed to another location. "And over there's where the bison would sleep, and…" He let out a sigh.

"Something wrong, Aang?" Wenona asked.

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds." He was quiet for a moment, his expression sad. "I can't believe how much things have changed."

Realizing how sad Aang was, Sokka decided he would do the friendly thing and try to cheer him up.

"So, uh, this air-ball game…how do ya play?" The teen asked, not realizing what he was getting himself into.

* * *

"You do realize you were totally asking for that, don't cha?" Wenona asked through her fading laughs.

"Ha ha." Sokka replied sarcastically, as he began to rise from the bush that Aang's little air-ball game had resulted in knocking him into. "Making him feel better is putting _me_ in a world of hurt." Sokka then gasped in shock when he noticed something. A Fire Nation helmet. "Nona, Katara, check this out." He whispered.

"Fire Nation." The two girls growled.

"We should tell him."

"Aang, there's something you need to see." Wenona called over to the Airbender who was receiving a high-five from Keng for his victory.

"Okay." Aang replied as he and the younger Waterbender hurried over.

Katara thought for a moment and then Waterbended snow down from the hill so that it hid the helmet, also hitting Sokka with the snow in the process.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"Uh, just a new Waterbending move I learned." Katara replied.

"Nice one. But enough practicing."

"Let's get up to the temple." Keng said. "Aang says it's even more incredible on the inside."

The two twelve-year-olds eagerly headed up towards the temple, completely oblivious to the find made by the older children. Sokka brushed the snow off of himself and turned to Katara.

"You know you can't protect him forever." He stated.

Wenona put a hand on her sister's shoulder and the two began to walk, followed closely by their Nonbender brother.

As Aang and Keng raced through the halls and passageways, Sokka had a few things to say to his sister's.

"Katara, Nona, Firebenders were _here_. You two can't pretend they weren't." He admonished them.

"We can for Aang's sake." Katara responded.

"Sokka, how would you feel if we went back home only to find that everyone was gone and that the Fire Nation had attacked when there was no one there to defend our people?" Wenona asked. "I know _I_ would be devastated, angry, vengeful even. Aang's just a kid, how do you think he'll take something like this?"

"What about Keng?" Sokka asked. "Should we tell him?"

"No. Keng shouldn't have to know either. You know how tender-hearted he is."

"Personally, I think that's _your_ faults for making him do girly stuff like sewing."

Before either Wenona or Katara could snap at him for his incredibly sexist comment, Aang called them over to see a statue of his former teacher and mentor, Monk Gyatso. Aang then walked somberly in the direction of the Air Temple sanctuary, explaining that there was someone he needed to meet. They arrived at a door with an intricate lock, which Aang opened with Airbending. Inside, they found thousands of statues.

"Statues?" Sokka whined. "That's _it_? Where's the _meat_?"

"Ya know," Wenona said as she turned to her meat-loving sibling, "that lock on the door kinda reminds me of a hippo-whale intestine."

"Mmmm, stop with the talk of exquisite, meaty, delicacies like that, Nona. You're making me even hungrier."

"Me to." Keng agreed, rubbing his stomach as Sokka had done before.

"Who _are_ all these people?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure." Aang replied. "But it feels like I know them somehow. Look, that one's an Airbender!"

"And this one's a Waterbender. They're lined up in a pattern: air, water, earth, and fire."

"That's the Avatar Cycle."

Wenona instantly had a flashback to her dream. She was kneeling beside the Earth Kingdom girl, next to the Earth Kingdom girl was a Fire Nation girl, and then an Air Nomad girl.

"Of course." Katara stated. "They're Avatars. All these people are your past-lives, Aang."

"Wow, there are so many." Aang began to walk around and look at more of the statues.

"Past-lives?" Sokka questioned his little sister. "Katara, you really believe in that stuff?"

"Katara's right, Sokka." Keng said. "When an Avatar dies, he or she is reborn into the next nation in the cycle. After Aang, there's going to be a Water Tribe Avatar."

"Whatever, I know Nona agrees with me that this is all just ridiculous, magical mumbo-jumbo. Right, Nona? Nona?"

They turned and saw their oldest sister looking up, as if in a trance. She was staring straight at the ceiling, her eyes fixated on something. They followed her gaze and saw what was painted on the ceiling. It was four panels, each one contained a figure that was depicted Bending a certain element, these too were in the pattern of the Avatar Cycle. Wenona was looking specifically at the figure that was Waterbending, she couldn't see the features very well as the painting was too high up, but she felt a strange sense of familiarity with the Waterbender.

"Nona? Hello? Sokka to Nona, wake up." Sokka said as he waved a hand in front of her face.

"W-what? Sorry I kinda spaced-out there." She responded. She then looked over at Aang. "And it looks like I'm not the only one."

"Aang, snap out of it." Katara said as she lightly shook the young Airbender out of his daze.

"Huh?" He mumbled.

"Who is that?"

"That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me."

"You were a Firebender?" Sokka inquired.

"_Nooo_, Sokka." Wenona said sarcastically. "He was a stupidity-Bender, like you. Of _course_ he was a Firebender. He's the _Avatar_." Sokka glared at her.

"There's no writing." Katara pointed out. "How do you know his name?"

"I'm not sure." Aang replied. "I just…_know it_ somehow."

Sokka gave an annoyed grumble.

"You just couldn't get _any_ weirder." He said.

Then, they heard the sound of someone approaching. Fearful that it could be a Firebender, due to the shape of the shadow that was approaching, they all ducked behind some statues.

"Firebender." Sokka whispered to the others. "Nobody make a sound."

"You're making a sound." Katara quietly snapped, earning her some shushes from the others.

Sokka and Wenona nodded to each other as they both raised their clubs, prepared to attack.

"That Firebender won't know what hit 'em." Sokka whispered.

As soon as the two oldest members of the group moved out from behind their hiding places, they saw much to their embarrassment that it wasn't a Firebender at all, just a little lemur.

"Lemur!" Aang exclaimed.

"Dinner." Sokka said, his mouth watering. Wenona threw Sokka a 'look'.

"Don't listen to him, you're gonna be my new pet."

"Not if I get him first!"

The two boys charged forward; Aang shouting for the lemur to come back, and Sokka adding that he wanted to eat the animal.

"I hope Sokka doesn't eat that poor creature." Keng said worriedly. "It looked too cute to eat."

"It's okay." Wenona said as she put a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "Knowing Meat-head he'll goof it up big time."

The three Waterbenders continued to look around at the statues, when the eyes of every one of the statues suddenly began to glow.

"Aang." The three gasped at once. They then began to run as fast as they could in search of the young Avatar.

* * *

"Aang, you have to calm down!" Wenona shouted as she and her siblings held on for dear life to any stable thing they could to avoid getting blown off the mountain. "Aang, please! I understand how you feel! I know what it's like to lose someone important to you! To lose the ones you love! We went through the same thing when our mom died and when our father left! Monk Gyatso and the Airbenders may be gone! But you still have a family! We're your family now! And we promise we'll look out for you!"

Aang slowly left his Avatar State and descended to Earth once more.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you." Keng promised as he hugged his friend.

Aang's eyes and tattoos stopped glowing and he began to fall over, only to be caught by Katara.

"I'm sorry." Aang apologized.

"It's okay." Katara assured him. "It wasn't your fault."

"But you were right. And if Firebenders found _this_ temple, that means they found the other ones too. I really _am_ the last Airbender."

Katara pulled the boy into a hug. Wenona looked at Aang with sympathy; she too knew how it felt to be one of a dying race, she was one of the last three Waterbenders of the South Pole after all, it was a horrible feeling to be the last of a noble heritage like that.

"Everything's packed." Katara stated as she and the others reentered the sanctuary to retrieve Aang. "You ready to go?"

"How's Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?" Aang asked.

"Don't worry, Aang." Keng said. "He's a part of you. Somehow you'll find a way."

They then heard something approach again, and they turned to see the lemur from earlier standing there with arms full of food that it brought over to Sokka and Wenona, who immediately began scarfing it down.

"Looks like you two found a new friend." Aang stated.

"Can't talk. Must eat." The two siblings said in synchronization as they stuffed their faces.

"Hey, little guy." Aang said to the lemur as it clambered onto his head.

The others waited for a moment as Aang and his two pets stared at the temple one final time.

"You, me, and Appa. We're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together." He then turned to his friends. "Guys, say hello to the newest member of our family."

"What are you gonna name him?" Katara asked.

The lemur suddenly snatched a peach from Sokka before the Water Tribe boy had the chance to bite into it.

"Momo."

They all began to chuckle at the vexed look on Sokka's face.

* * *

As they all flew away into the sunset, Aang looked back sadly at his former home.

"Hey, you alright?" Keng asked.

"I guess." Aang replied unenthusiastically.

"Come on. You can tell me."

"It's just…" He gave a sigh. "It's really hard to let go of everyone and everything I cared about."

"Hey, it's okay. Even though the bodies of our loved ones turn to dust, they are always with us. The ones who love us never really leave us; they stay with us in our hearts, right here." He pointed to the place over Aang's heart. "And just because your old friends are gone, it doesn't mean you're alone. We're your friends, and we'll always be there for you."

The two boys smiled and hugged each other.

"Thanks, Keng. You know, you're pretty smart for a kid."

"Hey, I'm no younger than _you_." The Waterbender chuckled.

Wenona watched the exchange and smiled as she lay down to get some sleep. Her dreams weren't terrifying and violent that night.

_She was sitting on a rock, looking down at her hands. Tears were running down her face. A hand touched her shoulder._

"_It's gone." She sobbed. "It's not coming back."_

"_Hey, it's alright." The voice comforted. "We lost just as much as you, but it was all for the good. Now the world is safe."_

"_I know. But it was always such an important part of my life. It's so hard to have a void like this."_

"_You'll be fine, you always are."_

_She turned to face the person comforting her and saw the Airbender girl from her last dream. The girl's grey eyes were kind and affectionate like those of a sister or a very dear friend, and she began to feel her spirits lift a little._

"_We'll always be here for you. We'll always be friends."_

"_Friends 'til the end?"_

"_And even longer."_

In the world outside her head, Wenona smiled.

**Ooh, wonder what her dream means? Well, I know but I'm not gonna tell you just yet. You'll have to wait and see. Well, see ya. **


	5. Girl Power

Last of Our Kind

**I have returned. Just to let you all know beforehand, Aang does have a little crush on Wenona right now, and she's not as naïve as Katara so she'll make sure Aang knows soon enough that the idea of him liking her like that is kinda creepy, especially when you consider how much older she is. I will also change up the fight scene a bit. Oh, just a forewarning, I will not be including the Sukka pairing and you will see why later on. And, once more, I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"_All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Erol and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death."  
― __J.R.R. Tolkien__, __The Return of the King_

Girl Power

The team was flying over the water, as they had been doing for quite some time, and Sokka had been acting particularly annoying lately. It was almost as if he couldn't go ten minutes without making a sexist comment, and Wenona was getting to the point where she wanted to hurl him over the side of Appa's saddle and let him fall into the ocean below. Even after all this time, Sokka still hadn't learned that girls were just as tough and smart and strong as men. He didn't even have a huge amount of respect for his older sister as a warrior, even though she could kick his butt if she wanted to; the only reason why he accepted her help in a fight was because he thought she was probably the only female in the world who could hold her own in a fight, and from Sokka that was a high opinion indeed.

"You have _no idea_ where you're going, do you?" Sokka asked Aang.

"Well…I know it's near _water_." Aang replied.

"I guess we're getting close then." Sokka said sarcastically.

"What are you angry at _Aang_ for?" Wenona asked. "_You're_ the one with the map."

"Hmph. What does a _girl_ know about maps anyway?"

"Are you _asking_ to get thrown out of this saddle? Because that could easily be arranged."

"Momo," Aang murmured to the lemur, "marbles please." The lemur ducked into his shirt and handed him some silver marbles. "Hey, guys, check out this Airbending trick." Aang then used his Airbending to make the marbles levitate and spin around.

"Cool." Keng replied.

"Yeah, neat trick, Aang." Wenona said politely.

"That's great, Aang." Katara mumbled as she focused on sewing a rip in Sokka's pants that she was fixing.

"But…you weren't even looking." Aang whined as he stopped Bending the marbles.

"That's great." Katara said as she turned to look.

"But I'm not doing it now."

"Stop bugging her, Air-head, you need to give girls space when they do their sewing." Sokka admonished the young Avatar, drawing the suspicious glares of his sisters.

"What does me being a girl have to do with _sewing_?" Katara growled.

"Are you trying to imply something, Meat-head?" Wenona added.

"Simple." The teenage boy replied. "Girls are better at fixing pants than guys. And guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that. It's just the natural order of things."

"All done with your pants." Katara said in a fake-sweet voice as she threw the half-finished article of clothing at him. "And look what a _great_ job I did."

"Wait! I was just kidding! I can't wear these! Katara, please!"

"Relax, Sokka." Aang stated. "Where we're going you won't _need_ any pants."

Keng then picked up his brother's unfinished pants and Katara's sewing kit.

"I'll fix them for you, big bro." The twelve-year-old offered.

"Oh, no you don't." Sokka responded as he snatched the items away from the boy. "That is _not_ manly, and I won't let my little brother do something like that. Ever."

Keng pouted, he really didn't like it when Sokka got like that. Keng didn't care what other people thought of him as long as he was happy with himself, he couldn't help it that he liked sewing and just being helpful in general, it was just part of what made him who he was. Wenona, seeing the disheartened look on her baby brother's face, snatched the pants and sewing kit away from Sokka and handed it to the younger boy, who took the items happily.

"You're making him into a sissy." Sokka accused as he pointed irately at Wenona. "He can't go around doing girly stuff like that."

"Shut up, Meat-head." Wenona snapped. "You want your stupid pants fixed, right? Well, neither of us _girls_ are very happy with you right now, so your only hope is for your baby brother to be charitable enough to help you, despite your stupid, sexist, narrow-minded views, which I strongly suggest you change in the near future. Like _right now_ for example."

"Urgh! Why must you always be so difficult, woman?"

"One of these days, Sokka, that big mouth of yours is gonna get you in some serious trouble."

* * *

"Whoa." Keng gasped as the four Water Tribe kids watched Aang riding the giant koi fish. "I wanna try that next."

"Don't even think about it." Katara warned him.

"Yeah, Squirt," Wenona added, "we're not ready to deal with the idea of scraping you off the fin of a giant fish."

"I wonder if those things cook well." Sokka thought aloud.

"How should _we_ know?"

"You're the girls, shouldn't you know if something's edible?"

That statement resulted in Sokka getting the back of his head smacked.

"He looks pretty good out there." Katara stated.

"Are you kidding?" Sokka replied. "The fish is doing all the work."

As they watched they noticed something big was following Aang and his fish and screamed for him to get out of there. Of course, Aang didn't realize what was happening until he was launched head-first into the water. At the sight of the giant creature heading straight for him, Aang ran at top speed over the water and crashed into Sokka. When the two got up, Aang proceeded to get dressed again.

"What _was_ that thing?" Katara asked.

"Looked big. Big and mean. And possibly hungry." Wenona stated.

"Well, let's not stick around to find out." Sokka declared. "Time to hit the road."

That was when they were ambushed by mysterious figures in green that appeared out of nowhere. They soon found themselves blindfolded, bound, and tossed to the ground unceremoniously.

"Or, we could stay awhile."

"Like we have a choice." Wenona grumbled.

* * *

"You five have some explaining to do." Came the sound of a man's voice.

"And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back in the water with the Unagi." A young woman said.

"Show yourselves, cowards!" Sokka declared angrily.

Suddenly, their blindfolds were ripped away and they saw a troop of women in green robes with bright face-paint.

"Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?"

"There _were_ no men." The woman from before answered. "_We_ ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Wait a second, there's no way a bunch of girls took us down."

"Shut _up_, Meat-head." Wenona hissed at him.

"A bunch of _girls_, huh?" The woman grabbed him by the front of his parka. "The Unagi's gonna eat well tonight."

"No, don't hurt him!" Katara protested. "He didn't mean it. Our brother's just an idiot sometimes."

"More like all the time." Wenona added, earning her a glare from Sokka.

"It's _my_ fault." Aang stated, drawing everyone's attention. "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant-koi."

"How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" The man from earlier demanded. "Kyoshi's managed to stay out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

"This island is named for Kyoshi? I _know_ Kyoshi!"

"Ha, how could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here four-hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries."

"I know her because I'm the Avatar."

"That's impossible." The woman declared. "The last Avatar was an Airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago."

"That's me."

"Throw the imposter to the Unagi!" The man declared.

"Aang, do some Airbending." Katara muttered to the Airbender as the female warriors began to advance.

Aang shot himself into the air, breaking free of the ropes that held him to the base of the statue of Kyoshi. He landed lightly on his feet, and the crowd gaped in awe.

"It's true. You _are_ the Avatar."

"Now, check _this_ out." Aang said as he began to Airbend the marbles again.

* * *

"Alright! Dessert for breakfast!" Aang exclaimed as he began to stuff pastries into his mouth. "These people sure know how to treat an Avatar." He then offered some pastry to Wenona. "Nona, you gotta try these."

"Uh, sure." She said, taking the offered pastry. She then noticed Sokka glowering in a corner. "Hey, what's wrong, Meat-head? Aren't you gonna eat something?"

"Not hungry." He grumbled.

"But you're _always_ hungry." Aang pointed out.

"Oh, he's just upset because a bunch of girls kicked his butt yesterday." Katara pointed out.

"They snuck up on me!" Sokka vehemently protested.

"Right. And _then_ they kicked your butt."

"Sneak attacks don't count!" He then began to mumble to himself as he stormed off. He quickly returned and asserted that he 'wasn't scared of any girls' and snatched up some pastries as he returned to storming off.

"I'm gonna make sure he doesn't hurt himself." Wenona informed the others as she got up and followed after Sokka.

"What's _he_ so angry about?" Aang asked.

"Sokka can't stand it whenever people challenge gender-roles." Keng explained. "To him, people need to be 'categorized' into certain things. For boys it means that the only things they should be good at is hunting, fighting, fishing, and so on. For girls it means sewing, cooking, cleaning, makeovers, and all that. When people challenge his 'norm' it gets him angry, especially if it means humiliation on his part. But, I guess that's what happens when people are ignorant."

Aang exchanged a look with Katara.

"He's smart for his age." She stated.

"Well, anyway," Aang continued, "I still think it's great here. They're giving us the royal treatment."

"Hey, don't get too comfortable. It's risky for us to stay in one place for very long."

"I'm sure we'll be fine. Besides, did you see how happy I'm making this town?" He glanced out the window at the statue of Kyoshi that was being fixed up. "They're even cleaning up that statue in my honor."

"Well, it's nice to see you excited about being the Avatar. I just hope it doesn't all go to your head."

"Come on, you know me better than that. I'm just a simple monk."

Aang then stood up to look out the window and was met by the sound of cheering fangirls. Katara and Keng exchanged looks. The little boy shrugged and smiled, as if saying 'come on, sis, let him have his moment'. Katara rolled her eyes but said nothing.

* * *

Sokka was still grumbling angrily to himself as he approached the training hall, completely oblivious to the fact that Wenona was following right behind him. He walked into the training room with a superior smirk on his face.

"Sorry, ladies, didn't mean to interrupt your dance lesson." He said. Wenona gave a scowl. "I was just looking for somewhere to get a little workout."

"Well, you're in the right place." The leader, whose name they learned was Suki, responded. Suki noticed Wenona approach behind Sokka, the Waterbender put a finger to her lips to let the other girl know not to acknowledge her. "Sorry about yesterday. I didn't know you were friends with the Avatar."

"It's alright. I mean normally I'd hold a grudge, but seeing as you guys are a bunch of girls, I'll make an exception." As he spoke and stretched his muscles, he was completely oblivious to the fact that Wenona was mocking him behind his back and making weird faces that forced the warriors to struggle to keep in their laughs.

"I should hope so." Suki replied in a joking voice that Sokka just didn't seem to recognize for what it was. "A big, strong man like you. We wouldn't stand a chance."

"True. But don't feel bad. After all, I'm the best warrior in my village."

That made Wenona angry, and she glared so hard at her brother that, if she was a Firebender, would've burned a hole in his skull.

"Wow, the _best_ warrior, huh? In your _whole_ village? Maybe you'd be kind enough to give us a little demonstration?"

Wenona smiled. She liked where this was going.

"Oh, well…I mean I…"

"Come on, girls." Suki addressed her fellow warriors. "Wouldn't you like him to show us some moves?" The warriors all giggled and nodded.

"Well, if that's what you want, I'd be happy to. Alright, you stand over there. Now, this may be a little tough, but try to block me." As soon as he swung the punch, Suki blocked him with her metal fan, only having to raise her arm to do so. "Hehehe, good." Sokka said anxiously as he rubbed his shoulder where the fan hit him. "Of course I was going easy on you."

"Of course."

"Let's see if you can handle _this_!" He lunged and she tossed him back. "That _does_ it!" He charged again but Suki grabbed his arm and began to spin him around and around, then she yanked off the cloth belt that held his tunic in place and used it to bind his wrist to his ankle. He hobbled around a bit and then crashed to the floor.

"Anything else you wanna teach us?"

"It's about time someone did that." Wenona spoke up at last. "I'm just sorry it wasn't _me_."

"Nona!" Sokka exclaimed. "How long were you standing there?"

"The whole time. I heard everything you said, little brother. Every. Single. Word." A scowl crossed her face. She untied his wrist and pointed towards the door. As Sokka walked past her, Wenona hissed at him: "Walk of shame, Meat-head. Walk of shame." Once Sokka had vacated the training hall, Wenona turned to Suki. "That was really impressive. I'd like to apologize for Sokka, he's an idiot."

"I'll say."

"I'm Wenona by the way, but everyone calls me Nona." She and Suki shook hands.

"Nice to meet you. I noticed you seemed really irritated when your brother said he's the best warrior in your tribe."

"That's because he's pretty much the _only_ warrior, the others are all off fighting in the war. It's just him, some five-year-olds, and _me_; and that moron won't admit that I'm ten-times better than him as a warrior."

"Well, if you'd like, it'd be a pleasure to do some training with you."

"Do I get a cool uniform like yours?"

"I think we're going to be good friends, Nona." Suki stated as she slung a friendly arm around the Waterbender's shoulders.

Wenona had fit right in with the Kyoshi Warriors, quickly picking up on their movements due to the similarity between the fighting forms and Waterbending. Eventually, they were interrupted by a very apologetic-looking Sokka.

"Uh, hey, Suki." Sokka said.

"Hoping for another 'dance lesson'?" The warrior replied.

"No, I…well, let me explain…"

"Spit it out. What do you want?"

Sokka knelt down on the floor.

"I would be honored if you would teach me."

"Even if I'm a _girl_?"

"I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was…wrong."

"Well, this is a first." Wenona sniped.

"Nona," Sokka looked at his sister, "I'm sorry about claiming to be better than you because I'm a boy." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I never wanted to show you the respect you deserve because I was ashamed that I wasn't as good as you. And I was jealous that you're both a great fighter _and_ a Waterbender. And, I apologize for not respecting you."

Wenona sighed and rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face.

"You know I can't stay mad at you when you make that face. Apology accepted, Meat-head." She knelt down and hugged her idiot brother.

Suki pondered this for a moment.

"Very well, we'll teach you." She said to Sokka. "But you have to follow all of our traditions."

"Of course." Sokka replied.

"And I mean _all_ of them."

* * *

Wenona wanted to burst out laughing at the sight of Sokka in a dress.

"You know, it really makes your eyes stand out." She said, earning a glare from her brother.

"Do I really have to wear this?" Sokka asked Suki. "It feels a little…girly."

"It's a warrior's uniform." Suki explained. "You should be proud. The silk thread symbolizes a brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart."

"Bravery and honor." Sokka said as he puffed out his chest.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang called in as he passed by, "nice dress." Aang then turned and saw Wenona. "I like your dress too, Nona."

Wenona gave Aang a weird look. That boy couldn't be more obvious if he had 'I'm a weird twelve-year-old who likes older girls' painted on his forehead.

"Aang, we're all wearing the same dress." She said.

"I know…I just…I thought you looked nice in it."

Wenona threw Aang another look and the Airbender backed out.

"What was _that_ all about?" Sokka asked.

"I think Aang has a kiddie-crush on me." Wenona stated.

"A what?"

"You know, a kiddie-crush. That's when a prepubescent child has a crush on someone older than them. Remember back home how a few of those little girls would stalk you?"

"Oh yeah." Then the realization hit him and he made a disgusted noise.

"Don't worry; as soon as you give Aang 'the talk' I'm sure that'll be the end of that."

"Well, if you say s-WHAT?! _I_ have to give him 'the talk'?"

"Not right _now_, stupid. But, someday very soon you'll need to have a word with him. And Keng too for that matter."

"And why do _I_ have to tell them?"

"Because, you're a _boy_."

"I hate you so much right now." Sokka grumbled.

* * *

Keng hadn't really known what to do with the free time they had. He was happy to help Katara to get supplies for the trip, but whenever he had a moment Aang was too busy with his army of mini-fangirls to do anything fun. Keng also sensed that Katara was getting frustrated with Aang's insistence that they stay a little longer. Keng immediately began to get worried when Aang came in while Katara and Keng were doing a little bit of Waterbending practice to let them know he was going to try and ride the Unagi.

"Katara," Keng said to his sister after Aang left, "we can't let him do this. Did you see the size of that thing?"

"If Aang wants to be stupid just to show off for a bunch of little girls, I say we let him face the consequences."

"But, Katara, he could get _killed_. And then what will happen?"

Katara didn't respond.

"I know you're annoyed with him, but we can't let him do something like this. We're his friends and we promised to look out for him and stand by him through anything."

Katara gave a defeated sigh.

"Let's go make sure he doesn't get himself killed." She said.

* * *

Sokka and Wenona had been making excellent strides in their training, of course Wenona was still naturally better than her brother but Sokka was doing okay. Suddenly, the village leader Oyaji showed up.

"Firebenders have landed on our shores! Girls, come quickly!" He shouted.

"Hey, I'm not a-" Sokka started to protest before Wenona grabbed his arm and began to pull him along. "Ah, whatever."

They hid in the shadows in the village along with the other warriors. They all waited patiently for the right time to strike. Wenona and Sokka immediately recognized the leader of the Firebenders.

"Come out, Avatar!" Zuko shouted. "You can't hide from me forever!"

The soldiers advanced into the town and the warriors withdrew their fans. They ran along the rooftops with expert skill, and then leapt down knocking several soldiers off their rhinos. Suki had charged straight at Zuko, only to get knocked to the side by his rhino's tail. Zuko sent a stream of fire at the warrior captain that was deflected by Sokka who came to her rescue.

"Hey, Scarface!" Wenona called out. Zuko turned and saw the Waterbender, though he didn't recognize her at first. "I think I owe you a butt-kicking for threatening my friends and family!" She withdrew the fans.

"I don't have time for the likes of you!" He shouted back.

Sokka charged up and managed to push Zuko off his rhino. Zuko turned to glare at the boy in woman's clothes.

"Think back about a week ago!" Wenona continued. "When you attacked the South Pole!"

"The Water Tribe peasants." Zuko muttered.

"Welcome to the corner of 'Pay' and 'Back'!"

Wenona and Sokka both charged, Zuko swung fiery punches that the siblings both managed to dodge. Wenona grabbed Zuko's wrist and pushed it back painfully, Zuko didn't flinch but got angrier.

"This is from the Water Tribe." Wenona whispered so only Zuko could hear, and withdrew a dagger that she always kept tied to the side of her shoe. She raised the dagger and froze as she suddenly had a flashback.

_She was standing beside a girl in Fire Nation robes. The girl looked sad as she stared at a golden, flame-shaped crown in her hands._

"_I would do anything for my people." The girl said. "As their ruler, I must make every sacrifice."_

"_But, you love him." Wenona said._

"_I know…" The rest of the girl's words faded as Wenona snapped back to reality._

Zuko also seemed to have a dazed look on his face, but both remembered where they were and he took the moment of distraction to knock Wenona down with his free hand. Sokka rushed over to his sister to help her up.

"Nice try, Avatar!" Zuko shouted. "But these little girls can't save you!"

"Hey! Over here!" Aang called out from behind him.

"Finally."

Zuko attacked Aang, who responded by using a set of the warrior fans to channel his Airbending into a blast that sent Zuko crashing into some rubble. Aang then flew over to where Katara and Keng were helping some children get inside to safety.

"Look what I brought to this place." He said.

"It's not your fault." Katara responded.

"Yes it is. These people got their town destroyed trying to protect _me_."

"Then, I suggest we leave." Keng stated. "If we don't, Zuko and his men will continue to destroy everything until they capture you."

"I know it feels wrong to run, but it's the only way." Katara added.

"I'll call Appa." Aang concluded sadly.

* * *

"Sokka, you Meat-head, come on!" Wenona shouted as her little brother began to bid farewell to Suki.

"There's no time to say goodbye." Suki stated.

"How 'bout 'I'm sorry'?" He replied.

"For what?"

"I treated you like a girl, when I should've treated you like a warrior."

"Will you two stop yammering?! The whole town is burning!" Wenona cut in. She grabbed her brother and yanked him up. "Just forgive him so we can get out of here!"

"I am a warrior." Suki continued to speak to Sokka as she stood up and kissed him on the cheek. "But I'm a girl too. Now get out of here! We'll hold them off!" She then ran off to join her comrades.

"Augh!" Wenona exclaimed as Sokka began to blush through his makeup. Wenona gave Sokka's arm another yank. "Come _on_!"

The two siblings rushed over to board Appa. Aang gave the command for the bison to take off. They all looked back sadly as the village continued to burn.

"I know it's hard, but you did the right thing." Katara assured Aang. "Zuko would've destroyed the whole place if we'd stayed. They're gonna be okay, Aang." Without warning, Aang jumped from his seat on Appa's head down to the water below. "What are you doing?!"

About ten seconds later, the Unagi rose from the water with Aang steering it by holding on to its whisker-like feelers. Aang forced the Unagi to open its mouth as it spewed a blast of water over the town, extinguishing the fire. Once the fire was out, Aang returned to the bison and they all flew off.

"I know, I know, that was stupid and dangerous." Aang said.

"Yes. It was." Katara responded and then hugged him.

"Well, Sokka," Wenona said, "I hope you learned a thing or two from this experience."

"Indeed I have." He replied. "I learned that it's not about whether you're a boy or a girl, what matters is how much damage you can cause to a Firebender."

Wenona was about to retort but just sighed and settled back in her seat.

"Close enough."

**Hope you liked this new chapter. Sorry if you all have gotten weirded-out by the fact that Aang has a crush on Wenona instead of Katara, especially considering the fact that Wenona is a few weeks shy of 17, but there is a logical explanation. As I had Wenona point out, Aang has what I believe is known as a 'kiddie-crush', when a younger person has a crush on someone older than them; in this case, a twelve-year-old boy crushing on a teenage girl. The reason why I did this was to emphasize a personal opinion about why I don't approve of Kataang. There is a similar situation in the Disney Channel show the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, where Zack was crushing on Maddie despite the fact that she was older than him. Hope I cleared that up for anyone who was confused. See ya.**


	6. They're All Crazy Except For Me

Last of Our Kind

**I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow."  
― William Shakespeare

They're All Crazy Except For Me, or Why I Hate Birthdays

"Hey, Nona." Sokka whispered to the girl who was still half asleep.

"Go away." Wenona grumbled.

Her siblings and the young Avatar all gathered around her sleeping bag, grinning conspiratorially. Then, with one breath, they all shouted.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NONA!"

"GAHHH!" Wenona shrieked as she leapt up in shock, reflexively punching Sokka in the face.

"Ow!" Sokka declared as he rubbed his jaw.

"Sorry." Wenona apologized. "But, let that be a lesson to you all. You should _never_ wake up someone like me in such a way. _Ever_. My natural reflexes kick in and I instinctively attack anyone who gets too close."

"Well, we just wanted to wish you a happy birthday." Aang stated.

"Oh yeah, _great_." She said sarcastically. "I'm another year older. Whoop-de-flippin'-do."

"I knew this was a bad idea." Katara whispered to the others. "Nona's never really liked birthdays."

"She doesn't have to be such a grouch about it though." Sokka replied.

"We need to do something special to make this her best birthday ever." Aang concluded.

"You do realize I can hear everything you guys are saying, right?" Wenona said.

"Come on, Nona, let us make this birthday awesome."

She sighed in defeat.

"You idiots are just gonna do it anyway, aren't you?"

The next few hours were like slow torture for the now seventeen-year-old Waterbender. Her siblings and Aang tried to throw a little makeshift party in the forest clearing where they were camped. They played some games and the others sang, which made Nona become very annoyed. Then came the birthday presents, and Nona just wanted to die at that point.

"Nona, my dear older sister, on this your Seventeenth birthday, I made you _this_." Sokka said as he handed his big sister a painting.

"What in the Naraka Avici is _that_?" She asked.

"It's a painting of you doing your Waterbending."

"Sokka, that is the stupidest thing you have ever made. And you've made some pretty stupid things."

At Sokka's crestfallen and rather hurt expression, Wenona sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Sorry." She mumbled. "I guess it's the thought that counts."

Sokka didn't look appeased.

"Stop your moping; it's _my_ stupid birthday after all. Only _I_ have the right to be upset."

"Uh, moving on." Katara said, trying to change the subject. "Nona, I fixed up that old dress of yours that you liked that got ruined a while back." She held up the long purple tunic, it was probably the fanciest outfit that any of them owned and that wasn't saying much, Katara had added a few new decorations to it and it looked better than it had in a long time.

"Thanks, Kit-Kat." Wenona sighed unenthusiastically.

"I made you this bracelet out of woven flowers." Keng said as he tied the gift around her wrist.

"Thanks, Squirt." She still didn't smile.

"Come on, Nona, why are you so down?"

"I think I know what's wrong." Katara stated. She turned to her brothers. "Remember what happened the last time she celebrated her birthday?"

Sokka and Keng looked like they were ready to slap themselves on the forehead.

"Am I missing something?" Aang inquired.

"It's just that, Nona's fifteenth birthday was the last day we had with our father before he and the warriors left. He managed to postpone the voyage long enough so that he could be there to celebrate. But, the next morning, he left."

Wenona had been staring sadly into the fire.

"Oh." Aang responded. "I'm sorry, Nona. If it makes you feel better, at least you still _have_ family that's alive. Mine got wiped out about a hundred years ago."

"It's okay." She replied.

"And, I have a totally amazing present for you. I don't have it with me right _now_, but you'll see."

"You're up to something, aren't you, Air-head?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out tomorrow."

Wenona gave Aang a quizzical look as they all settled down for the evening. However, they weren't able to get much sleep before a certain angry Fire Nation prince showed up and ambushed them accompanied by his soldiers.

"Aw, for the love of Setna." Wenona muttered angrily as she and the others leapt into action. She immediately charged at Zuko in order to keep him from getting to Aang. "Okay, this is officially the worst birthday ever." She muttered as she dodged a flame. "You do realize I hate you and will have to kill you now, right?!"

"Quiet, you peasant!" Zuko shouted.

"Your people are the reason I hate today!" She ducked another blast. "You're the ones who made my father leave!"

Zuko froze for a moment at the word 'father', but quickly resumed his attack. They continued a one-on-one attack until Zuko backhanded her. As she fell, she had another flashback.

_She and the Fire Nation girl from her other visions were sitting side-by-side. _

"_I lost my father today." The Fire Nation girl said sadly._

"_I am sorry." Wenona replied. "My father has been gone for many years now. He taught me everything I know."_

"_Promise me that we'll always be there for each other."_

"_I'm not going anywhere, Akari. I'm not that easy to get rid of."_

_The two chuckled._

"_Friends forever?" Akari inquired._

"_And longer still."_

"_Hey, you two!" A friendly voice called out behind them. "We have a schedule to keep! So get your backsides in gear!"_

_She turned her head and, as she began to fade back to reality, she saw a girl in green robes with black hair. The figure wasn't very clear, but she felt that same familiarity with her that she did with the Firebender. _

"Nona? Nona? Are you alright?"

Wenona shook herself awake and saw that her little sister was leaning over her looking concerned.

"Hey, Kit-Kat, what happened?"

"Zuko knocked you out. After that, he went after Aang. The rest of us got you while Aang distracted Zuko and his soldiers. Don't worry, we're safe now."

"Katara, there's just one thing I have to say about this."

"Yeah?"

"If anyone so much as mentions the word 'birthday' again, I may have to get violent."

Katara gave a sigh, but was happy that her sister wasn't too out of it.

"You know something, Kit-Kat? I'm pretty certain that everyone's crazy except for me."

* * *

"The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu! I used to always come here to visit me friend Bumi." Aang declared proudly. "Happy birthday, Nona."

"What did I say about mentioning birthdays?" She sighed in annoyance.

"Come on, cheer up. I thought this would be the best place to go to celebrate."

"Wow." Katara gasped. "We don't have cities like this in the South Pole."

"They have buildings here that don't melt." Sokka stated.

"So did Kyoshi." Wenona pointed out.

"Or burn."

"Okay, I'll grant you that."

"Well, let's go, slow pokes." Aang stated. "The real fun is _inside_ the city."

"Wait, Aang." Katara stopped him. "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar."

"You need a disguise." Sokka added.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Aang inquired. "Grow a moustache?"

That was, in fact, more or less the plan. The four siblings all collected some of Appa's loose fur and made it into a fake moustache and wig that they made Aang wear, much to the Airbender's discomfort. Soon, they were on their way to the city gates.

"You guys are gonna love Omashu." Aang stated as they drew nearer. "The people here are the friendliest in the world."

"Rotten cabbages?!" They heard a voice shout and saw a guard yelling at a cabbage merchant. "What kinda slum do you think this is?!" The guard then Earthbended the merchant's cart of the bridge and into the chasm below.

"Oh, my cabbages!" The merchant exclaimed.

"Yeah, they seem _real_ nice." Wenona said sarcastically.

"Just keep smiling." Aang whispered nervously.

Aang managed to get them inside, Wenona wanted to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of how he did it though. Aang certainly knew how to oversell an act. But, they got inside, and that's all that matters.

"This is the Omashu delivery system." Aang explained. "Miles and miles of tubes and chutes. Earthbending brings the packages up, and gravity brings them down."

"Great, so they get their mail on time." Sokka responded.

"They _do_ get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a _better_ use for these chutes."

Wenona did not like the devious look on Aang's face.

* * *

"You see what your little schemes cause?" Wenona snapped at Aang as the guards led them towards the royal palace. "Now I _really_ hate today."

"I'm sorry, Nona." Aang replied. "At least that ride was fun, right?"

Wenona sighed. Keng had been the only one of the four siblings to actually have fun on their mail-chute ride; the other three had all been terrified. The guards took them into a room that was illuminated in weird green light, at the far end of the room there was an old man in fancy robes sitting on a throne. The man gave Aang a curious look.

"Your Majesty," one guard said, "these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages."

"Off with their heads!" Shouted the cabbage merchant from earlier. "One for each head of cabbage."

"Silence! Only the king can pass down judgment. What is your judgment, sire?"

The old king thought for a moment while the five kids all gave hopeful looks, except for Aang who just whistled nonchalantly.

"Throw them…a feast." The king said, causing everyone to gasp in confusion.

It soon became clear that the king might not have been in his right mind. But who were they to complain when they seemed to have been acquitted from the charges against them, and got a big fancy meal to boot.

"Hey," Wenona whispered to the others, "maybe this birthday isn't so awful after all."

"It's not your birthday anymore, Nona." Sokka whispered.

"I was born at around midnight last night, so today still counts."

Wenona began to eat ravenously at the little feast the king had ordered, while her siblings and Aang just looked a bit out of place. The king stood up from his seat and walked over to them.

"The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin." He said as he held up a drumstick.

"Thanks, but I don't eat meat." Aang replied.

"How 'bout _you_?" The king said to Sokka. "I bet _you_ like meat." He shoved the drumstick into Sokka's mouth and then returned to his seat.

"Is it just me, or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" Katara whispered to the others.

"Who cares?" Wenona replied quietly. "Free food."

"So tell me, young bald one, where are you from?" The king asked.

"I'm from…Kangaroo Island." Aang replied.

"Ahh, Kangaroo Island, huh? I hear that place is really _hopping_."

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Sokka and Wenona started chuckling, causing the others to look at them curiously.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"It was pretty funny." Wenona added.

The king then gave a yawn.

"Well, all these good jokes are making me tired, guess it's time to hit-the-hay." He said. Then, without warning, he threw another chicken drumstick at Aang, who caught it with a ball of air. "There's an Airbender in our presence, and not just _any_ Airbender. The _Avatar_."

* * *

"I knew this place was going to be trouble." Wenona complained after they were shown to the newly-refurbished-chamber-that-was-once-bad.

"Maybe this is all some big test or something." Keng suggested. "I mean, we're in the Earth Kingdom. Why would _they_ do anything to harm the Avatar?"

"I wonder what these challenges are gonna be." Aang thought aloud, remembering that the king told him he would have to face some deadly challenges.

"We're not sticking around to find out." Katara stated. "There's gotta be some way out of here."

"The air vents!"

Everyone gave Aang weird looks.

"If you think we're gonna fit through there, you're crazier than that king." Sokka said.

"We can't. But Momo can."

Aang then proceeded to try and shove the lemur through one of the air vents, with little to no success.

"How is Appa gonna help us anyway?" Wenona inquired.

"Appa is a ten ton flying-bison. I think he could figure _something_ out."

Katara told them not to argue about it now and instructed them to get some sleep. Katara and Wenona had to share one of the three beds and Keng slept next to Sokka. As they all drifted off, Wenona had just one thing on her mind.

"I hate birthdays."

* * *

Wenona was shaken from her sleep by one of the guards. She was about to yell and wake up Aang but a hand was slammed over her mouth. The guards led the four siblings away. They stood waiting by an earthen wall for about an hour before the wall finally lowered and they saw Aang and the crazy king. When Aang once again refused to participate in the challenges, the guards slipped weird rings onto the siblings' fingers. Instantly, the rings, called Jennamite, began to grow. Seeing his friends in danger, Aang agreed to participate in the challenges.

Aang faced three challenges, and once they were completed the king asked Aang one question. Aang had to figure out the king's name.

"Think about the challenges, maybe it's some kind of riddle." Katara suggested.

"No, _really_, what was your first clue?" Wenona muttered sarcastically.

"I got it!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Aang inquired.

"He's an Earthbender, right? Rocky." There was a silent pause. "You know, because of all the rocks."

"Okay, Sokka, that was probably your weakest joke ever." Wenona snarked.

"Okay, so back to the challenges." Aang said. "I got a key from a waterfall, I saved his pet, and I had a duel."

"And what did you learn?" Katara inquired.

"Well, everything was different than I expected."

"And…?" Wenona asked, cringing as the crystals grew a little more.

"Well…they weren't straightforward. To solve each test I had to think differently than I usually would." A look of epiphany crossed his face. "I know his name."

Five more minutes found them back in the throne room.

"I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities. Bumi, you're a mad genius." Aang declared as he ran over to hug his old friend.

"Oh, Aang, it's so good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally." Bumi stated.

"Uh, over here!" Katara yelled frantically.

"A little help please!" Wenona added.

Bumi Earthbended the Jennamite off of the four. Keng gave everyone a smug smile.

"See, I told you guys it was all just a test." He said. "I knew we weren't in any _real_ danger."

"You call getting encased in a quick-growing crystal that would have suffocated us if it had had another minute to expand 'not dangerous'?" Wenona asked.

"Well, we're alive, aren't we?"

"So, this crazy king is your old friend Bumi?" Katara asked Aang.

"Who you calling 'old'?" Bumi retorted. There was another awkward pause. "Okay, I'm old."

"Why did you do all this instead of just telling Aang who you were?" Sokka asked.

"First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people."

"He does have a point." Wenona stated.

"But, I do have a reason." He turned to Aang. "Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius." Aang smiled and bowed to his old friend. "And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation." Suddenly, Momo flew onto Aang's shoulder. "And, you'll need Momo too."

"Thank you for your wisdom." Aang said. "But, before we leave, I have a challenge for _you_."

And so, Aang and King Bumi caused a great deal of destruction on their mail-chute ride. When they got back, Bumi threw them a farewell feast. At Aang's request, there was a little surprise.

Wenona didn't know what to do when a giant cake with green icing that spelled out the words 'Happy Un-Birthday, Nona' was rolled out into the party.

"Well that's…different." She said. Suddenly, a smile broke across her face. "Who came up with the 'un-birthday' thing?" Aang gave a sheepish smile."Thanks, Air-head." She gave him a mock-punch on the arm. "This has certainly been a memorable experience."

**And so, once again, Disney crept into my writing. (Okay, I know the 'un-birthday' is from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Disney doesn't own it, but you all know what I mean.) Anyway, I should be working on my King Lear presentation, but I'm doing this instead. You know, I kinda feel like Wenona on my birthday. I get kinda depressed. It's been even worse at Christmas when I get sad and…wait, why am I sharing this? Anyway, when Wenona says "Naraka Avici" it is a reference to Hell in Hinduism and Buddhism; Naraka is a multi-leveled Hell, and Avici is the lowest level of Naraka. I chose those names because I thought the Spirit World must have a Hell of sorts, so why couldn't this be its name. Oh, and Wenona's reflex thing at the beginning is something my dad had after he left the military; my aunt Susan tried to wake him up from a deep sleep and he naturally reacted by grabbing her in a headlock. I'm not even kidding, and she's hated him ever since even though it was her own fault. Well, see ya soon.**


	7. She Never Gives Up

Last of Our Kind

**Sorry I took so long, I hit a creative roadblock and my attention-span stopped working. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"Although I'm only fourteen, I know quite well what I want; I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child, I feel quite independent of anyone."  
― Anne Frank, _The Diary of Anne Frank_

She Never Gives Up

It had been a few days since they left Omashu and the gang decided to make a stop in a secluded forest. Inevitably, people began to get hungry.

"Oh man," Sokka whined, "I'm _starving_."

"Then go get some food, Meat-head." Wenona retorted.

"Where am I gonna find food in the middle of a forest?"

"Oh gee, I dunno, Sokka." Wenona said sarcastically. "Maybe you can _forage_ like a normal person does when they're camping out in the woods."

Sokka began to grumble about how bossy Wenona was, but he set out to try and find something suitable for dinner. It was not long after that he returned with his bag, claiming to have found some food.

"Great, you're back." Aang exclaimed as Sokka approached. "What's for dinner?"

"We've got a few options." Sokka replied as he rummaged through the sack. "First, round nuts. And…some kind of oval-shaped nuts. And some rock-shaped nuts, that…might just be rocks." Everyone gave him disbelieving glances. "Dig in."

"No, _really_, what did you get us for dinner?" Wenona asked.

Sokka gave an affronted look. Suddenly, they all heard a loud rumbling noise.

"What in the Naraka was _that_?!" Wenona exclaimed.

Another rumble was heard.

"It came from over there!" Aang shouted as he pointed in said direction.

Everyone but Sokka immediately ran towards the sound.

"Shouldn't we run _away_ from huge booms, not _towards _them?!" Sokka called after the others.

The group reached the source of the noise and saw a young man Earthbending. They observed him silently as they hid behind a fallen tree.

"An Earthbender." Katara stated.

"What was your first clue?" Wenona replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Sometimes Katara's point-out-the-obvious attitude could get a little annoying.

"Let's go meet him." Aang suggested.

"He looks dangerous." Sokka pointed out. "So we'd better approach cautiously."

While none of them were paying attention, Katara had darted right into the clearing.

"Hello there! I'm Katara! What's your name?!"

The young man saw her and stopped what he was doing, he then hightailed it away from her, creating a rock slide behind him to cover his escape. The others approached Katara.

"Nice to meet you!" Aang called after him.

"I just wanted to say 'hi'." Katara stated.

"Kit-Kat, what part of 'approach cautiously' did you not understand?" Wenona snapped.

"That guy's gotta be running _somewhere_. Maybe we're near a village." Aang suggested. "And I bet that village has a market."

"Which means no nuts for dinner!" Katara exclaimed.

"Hey, I worked hard to get those nuts!" Sokka protested.

Wenona and Keng gave Sokka a 'look'.

"Yeah, I hate 'em too."

* * *

It was a short time before they came upon a small Earth Kingdom village. They searched around the village for a while before Katara noticed a certain person entering a shop. Katara went straight after him, the others right behind her, and entered the shop. There was no denying it was the same boy they had seen earlier, he was talking to an older woman that they assumed was his mother.

"Hey, you're that kid." Katara said. The boy turned around nervously. "Why did you run away before?"

"Uh, you must have me confused with some other kid." He replied.

"Uh, no we don't." Wenona replied.

"We saw you Earthbending." Aang added.

The boy and his mother gasped in shock. They quickly ran over and closed the door and window.

"They saw you doing _what_?" The boy's mother demanded.

"They're crazy, Mom. I mean, look at how they're dressed." The boy replied.

Wenona scowled.

"You got a problem with how we look?" She growled. Wenona had the misfortune of being a little sensitive, especially when it came to something that tied into her identity as a member of the Water Tribe. Her siblings just looked over their attire in confusion as Aang adjusted the hat he had purchased mere minutes earlier.

"You know how dangerous that is." The boy's mother continued. "You know what would happen if _they_ caught you Earthbending."

"Who's _they_?" Keng inquired.

Suddenly there was a pounding on the door.

"Open up!" Came a loud voice outside.

"You just _had_ to ask." Wenona muttered as she and Sokka moved forward to look out the shutters of the window.

"Fire Nation. Act natural." Sokka whispered quickly.

Everyone assumed the most unsuspicious poses they could manage, which wasn't saying much, and the Earthbender's mother let in the Fire Nation soldiers.

"What do you want?" She demanded. "I've already paid you this week."

"The tax just doubled." The man in charge explained. "And we wouldn't want an accident, would we?" He produced a ball of fire in his hands. "Fire…it's sometimes so hard to control."

Grudgingly, the woman handed over what little money she had and the man left. Through the entire exchange, Wenona had felt her blood boil as she glared at the man. _Fire Nation thugs_ she thought _no concern for anyone but themselves and their stupid Fire Lord_.

"Nice guy." Sokka said sarcastically once the man left.

"A real _character_." Wenona added.

"How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

"Five years." The woman answered. "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"They're thugs." Her son stated. "They steal from us. And everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it."

"Quiet, Haru. Don't talk like that."

"But, Haru's an Earthbender." Katara spoke up. "He can help."

"Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must _never_ use his abilities."

"How can you say that? Haru has a gift. Asking him not to Earthbend is like asking _me_ not to Waterbend. It's a part of who we are."

"You don't understand."

"I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?"

"They could take Haru away! Like they took his father."

* * *

"Kit-Kat really doesn't know when to give up, does she?" Wenona asked the others as the group set up camp in the barn for the evening.

"And it really gets old sometimes." Sokka responded. "I mean, trying to be inspirational is one thing, but she just goes jabber, jabber, jabber. It is so annoying." Wenona scowled and thwacked Sokka on the head.

"I wasn't criticizing her, Meat-head. And you shouldn't talk about her like that behind her back, it's rude."

"You were the one who opened the topic for discussion."

"I was thinking out loud, Meat-head. You didn't have to respond."

"Hey, where _is_ Katara anyway?"

"She went on a walk with Haru." Keng pointed out.

"What?! Alone with a boy?! He'd better not try anything, or else…"

"Sokka, could you please put a sock in it?" Wenona asked. She stopped when she realized the pun and burst out laughing. "Get it? Sock?"

Sokka joined in the laughter, even if it had been a bit of an insult. The two oldest of the group threw their arms over each other's shoulder.

"Aw man, you still got it, Nona." Sokka said as he wiped away a tear from his eye that came about from laughing so hard.

"Don't worry, Sokka." Wenona continued. "I'm sure Katara and Haru are just talking. And if he _did_ try any funny business with little Kit-Kat, we'd skin him alive."

They bumped knuckles. Aang threw Keng a confused look.

"They're a little…overprotective." The Waterbender said.

"I'll say." The Avatar replied.

It was about an hour later when Katara returned, the sun was almost completely below the horizon and Sokka had been standing outside the barn tapping his foot irritably. Katara then launched into the story of how Haru had used his Earthbending to save an old man from being crushed by a collapsing mine.

"It was so brave of Haru to use his Earthbending to help that old man." Katara stated.

"Yes, Kit-Kat, for the hundredth time, we get it." Wenona groaned as the gang settled down for the night.

"You must have really inspired him." Aang said, causing Wenona to groan again that people were keeping her up.

"I guess so." Katara continued.

"No one inspires people like you do, sis." Keng said as he hugged his sister from his place in the sleeping bag between her and Wenona.

"Oh, for the love of Setna." Wenona grumbled. "Could everyone please let me go to sleep?"

"Nona's right." Sokka pointed out. "We all need some sleep. We're leaving at dawn."

"Dawn?" Katara exclaimed with surprise. "Can't we sleep in for once?"

"Absolutely not. This town is crawling with Fire Nation troops."

"Sokka does make a good point." Keng added. "If they find out that Aang is here…"

"We'll be eating fire-balls for breakfast. Goodnight."

"I'd rather eat fire-balls than nuts." Katara muttered.

"Goodnight." Sokka and Wenona both retorted irritably, though for different reasons.

Aang and Keng chuckled as Katara blew out the light. Soon, they all drifted off into sleep.

_Wenona found herself sitting with Akari the Firebender once again. The dreams were becoming very frequent now. Almost every time she closed her eyes._

"_What a beautiful necklace." Akari said as she pointed to Wenona's throat. Wenona felt her face contort into a frown._

"_I hate it."_

"_Why?"_

"_It's a betrothal necklace."_

"_Well, isn't that good? Who's the lucky guy?"_

"_The chief's son. The most arrogant, pompous, sexist jerk who ever lived. He's forcing me to marry him, even had his father make it an official order."_

"_You gave me some great advice once. To be true to your heart no matter what others think."_

_The two were silent for a moment before Akari gave her a playful jab with her elbow._

"_I think I know who you really wish had given you a betrothal necklace. That young Earth Kingdom boy."_

"_I don't know who you mean." Wenona replied, but her face was getting warm._

"_Come now. You know who I'm talking about. That young vagabond with the crooked smile."_

"_Akari, you have officially lost it."_

"_I think it's sweet. You two would be perfect together."_

"_Yeah. If I wasn't being forced to marry that jerk back in my tribe. He's actually considering forbidding women from learning Waterbending. Can you believe it?"_

"_That's ridiculous. Women have just as much right to learn Bending as men."_

"_And even more of a right in the case of Waterbending. Why, a woman was the first person to learn Waterbending."_

"_Same for Firebending."_

"_Well, I'm not gonna take this. If there's anything else you can say about me it's that I never give up."_

"_That's my girl. Now when you get home to your tribe, you are going to throw that pendant back in his stupid, sexist face."_

"_I might just do that, Akari. I might just do that."_

Wenona was woken the next morning by Sokka shaking her awake. Katara had gone to get some water for them while they packed up. Not even five minutes later, Katara came running back in and babbling about how Haru had been taken away by Fire Nation troops.

"Slow down, Katara." Sokka said. "When did this happen?"

"Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight." She replied.

"Then it's too late to track him. He's long gone."

"We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru."

"And they would do that _why_?" Keng asked.

"Because they're going to arrest me for Earthbending."

The others all exchanged looks.

"Uhhh, Kit-Kit, not to put a dent in your plans, but…you're not an Earthbender." Wenona pointed out.

"Well, we'll just have to find a way to make it _look_ like I am."

"I think this is crazy." Sokka grumbled.

"No one asked you, Sokka."

"I'm just saying we need to be logical about this. How are we going to make it look like you're an Earthbender?"

"I don't know! But we have to try _something_!"

Wenona looked down at the ground in thought. They couldn't just abandon Haru. There had to be a way.

"Wait a second." Sokka spoke up. "I think I got an idea."

* * *

"And _you_ thought this was crazy." Wenona teased Sokka as the three oldest members of the group rolled a large rock towards one of the air-vents.

"Yeah, but _I_ made it not crazy." Sokka replied. "You see, there are ventilation shafts throughout these mines. All Aang has to do is send an air-current from _that_ vent to this one right here. The boulder levitates and ta-da! Fake Earthbending."

"Aang, did you get all that?" Katara asked the Airbender who was currently entertaining Momo by Airbending at a butterfly.

"Sure, sure. I got it." He replied.

"You'll remember your cue, right?" Wenona asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just relax. You're taking all the fun out of this."

"By _this_ do you mean intentionally being captured by an army of ruthless Firebenders?" Sokka inquired.

"Exactly. That's fun stuff."

"Don't worry, guys," Keng said to his siblings, "I'll make sure he doesn't miss the cue."

"Here they come." Sokka declared. "Get in your places."

Wenona ducked out of sight while the two eldest of her younger siblings stood ready to begin their charade. Wenona had tried to convince Katara to let _her_ be arrested instead, but Katara insisted on doing this herself as she felt responsible for what had happened to Haru. As Katara and Sokka began their act, Wenona had to fight to keep herself from laughing at the ridiculous display. Then came the moment for the signal.

"I'll show _you_ who's boss. Earthbending style!" Katara shouted.

Keng noticed the signal and nudged Aang with his elbow. Aang immediately snapped back to reality and sent an air-current through the vent. Then, one of the Fire Nation guards said something that made Wenona want to roll around on the floor in hysterics.

"That lemur! He's Earthbending!"

Wenona looked and saw Momo standing by the boulder with his arms outstretched.

"No, you idiot, it's the girl." Sokka snapped.

"Oh. Of course."

Wenona then had to wrestle with the urge to beat the living daylights out of the Fire Nation soldiers as they led away her little sister. Wenona knew that Katara would be fine, but that didn't change how she felt at seeing her baby sister taken away like that. She was so focused on watching Katara that she hardly registered what Sokka said.

"Momo, _you_ have some big ears."

* * *

The four remaining members of the group followed the ship that they knew Katara was on, making sure that Appa stayed well-hidden in the clouds. Wenona stared down at the vessel below them.

"She'll be fine." Keng said as he placed a comforting hand on Wenona's shoulder.

"I know." Wenona replied. "You know Kit-Kat, she never gives up. She's too strong-willed."

"Something you both have in common."

"At least Nona is smart enough to realize when she's gotten in too deep." Sokka pointed out. "Katara never knows when to back out before she gets herself, or _us_, in trouble."

Wenona scowled.

"What did I say about bad-mouthing our sister behind her back?" Wenona snapped.

"Uh, guys," Aang spoke up, "I think I've found where they're taking her." He pointed to the ominous-looking structure in the distance. Aang looked worried.

"She'll be fine, Aang." Keng assured him. "Katara knows what she's doing."

They continued to circle through the clouds until nightfall, when they descended down towards the rig. Wenona made it quite clear that she would be the one to fetch Katara. Silently, the older Waterbender slipped onto the rig and crept about, looking for her sister. She peered into the prisoners' sleeping-quarters until she saw a familiar figure. She gently placed a hand over Katara's mouth in case she let out a sound that would draw unnecessary attention.

"Shh, it's me." Wenona whispered. She took Katara by the arm and led her outside. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Katara whispered back.

"Did you find Haru?"

"Yes, but there's a problem. He and the other Earthbenders refuse to fight against their captors. We can't just leave them all behind."

"Come on, we have to go see the others."

Wenona pulled Katara over to where Sokka, Aang, and Keng were waiting on Appa.

"Your 12-hours are up. Where's Haru?" Sokka inquired. "We've gotta get out of here."

"I can't." Katara responded.

"We don't have much time. There are guards everywhere. Get on."

"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang asked.

"She wants to stay and help the Earthbenders." Wenona answered.

"Katara please." Keng pleaded. "Be reasonable."

"I'm not leaving." Katara stated firmly. "I'm not giving up on these people."

"What do you mean you're not leaving?" Sokka demanded.

"We can't abandon these people. There has to be a way to help them."

"Maybe she's right." Aang stated. "What do you guys think?"

"I say you're both crazy." Sokka snapped. They then had to duck out of view of the searchlight. Once it was clear, they sat up again.

"It may be crazy, but isn't it worth taking a chance?" Wenona replied.

"Nona, this isn't like you. You always know when it's best to back out."

"Exactly, and my gut tells me that we need to stay."

"I'm with Sokka on this one, guys." Keng stated. "Normally, I'd be all for ya, but this just seems like too much of a leap of faith." They had to duck the lights again.

"Last chance, we need to leave. _Now_." Sokka cautioned.

"No." Katara insisted.

"I hate when you get like this. Come on, we better hide."

"I'll take charge of Appa." Keng stated as he hopped onto the bison's head and steered him out of sight.

The other four hid amongst some shipping crates.

"We don't have much time." Sokka said. "What are we gonna do?"

"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane." Aang said despairingly. The others all gave him weird looks. "The warden would run away and we'd steal his keys."

"Wouldn't he just take his keys with him?"

"And how would taking his keys even help us, Air-head?" Wenona snapped.

"I'm just tossing ideas around." Aang replied.

"I tried to talk the Earthbenders into fighting back but it didn't work." Katara bemoaned her failed speech. "If there was just a way to help them help themselves."

"For that they'd need some kind of earth or some rock. Something they can Bend." Sokka stated.

"Something like…_that_." Wenona pointed towards the vents where smoke was escaping. "Coal. They must be burning it to fuel this place."

"Of course." Aang agreed. "It's earth."

"I think I have plan." Sokka said.

"Wow, Sokka, two plans in one day. Must be a new record for you." Wenona sniped.

"My dear sister, I have not even begun to plan." He replied with a sly smirk.

* * *

"It's almost dawn. We're running out of time." Katara whispered frantically to her older siblings. "You guys sure this is gonna work?"

"Positive." Wenona replied.

Sokka then explained how the whole plan worked the same way that their fake Earthbending scheme from before had. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a shout.

"There's the intruders!" A guard declared.

"Stay back!" Sokka threatened while holding up his boomerang. "I'm warning you!"

"Katara, stop!" An old man, who Katara knew to be Haru's father Tyro, warned her. "You can't win this fight!"

"Listen to him well, child." The warden said as he approached. "You're one mistake away from dying where you stand."

"We've faced worse." Wenona retorted.

As the guards drew closer, there was a sudden rumbling and a fountain of coal poured forth from the vent, followed by a soot-covered Avatar.

"Here's your chance, Earthbenders!" Katara shouted. "Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!"

No one responded with the exception of a few people who backed away. Suddenly, the warden began laughing.

"Foolish girl." He said. "You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a _long_ time ago. Oh, but you still believe in them? How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You failed."

The warden turned to leave. Wenona was about ready to charge at him and beat him to a pulp for what he said to her sister, but before she had a chance a lump of coal hit him squarely on the head. The coal was launched by none other than Haru. That one action soon became a full-on prison riot, with the Earthbenders emerging victorious.

Soon, they were all sailing away from the rig. Everyone was free at last. Haru and his father thanked Katara for inspiring them and helping them to find their courage once again. However, the happy moment was ruined when Katara realized something.

"My mother's necklace! It's gone!"

Meanwhile, back on the rig, a banished Fire Nation prince found a necklace lying on the ground.

* * *

"It's okay, Katara." Keng said reassuringly as the team flew away on Appa.

"No it's not." She replied.

"You're darn right it's not!" Wenona yelled. "How could you lose Mom's necklace?! It's your most prized possession! It's the only thing we have left of her!"

"Wenona, that's not helpful." Keng cautioned. "You're making her feel worse than she already does."

Wenona's angry expression fell and was replaced by a look of regret.

"I'm sorry, Kit-Kat. I didn't mean to take it out on you. It's just…"

"I know." Katara said as she hugged her sister. "I'm sorry I lost it. I know how you feel. I miss her too."

Wenona hugged back.

"We don't have time to go back and look for it." Sokka told them. "The Fire Nation is probably securing the place as we speak."

They all nodded in sad agreement.

That night, as they slept, Wenona had another dream.

"_You can't make me!" She yelled. "I won't go through with it!" _

"_Please, child, see reason." Someone pleaded with her._

"_I __**do**__ see reason! And there is no reason in forcing me into a loveless marriage!"_

"_If you don't agree, you are no longer a member of our tribe." A man said to her._

"_Fine." Wenona said. "I never want to see this place again!" She turned to a young man, who was looking furious. "I hope you burn in Naraka for all eternity." She hissed at him. She reached up to her neck and tore off the pendant she wore. She flung the object so it hit him right in the forehead. She turned and stormed out to where three people waited for her._

**Wow, Wenona's getting more visions and stuff. Bet you all are wondering what all this means. Well, I'm not gonna tell you yet. You'll have to wait and see. This was a painfully hard chapter to write, but I'm sorry I took so long. See you soon.**


	8. Well, That Was Weird

Last of Our Kind

**In this chapter we learn more about Wenona's strange visions. Wenona finds out more about her role in Aang's life. And where does Zuko fit into this? I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different."  
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Well, That Was Weird

A metal door on a Fire Nation ship creaked open and a concerned-looking old man peered in.

"Prince Zuko, are you well?" The old man asked the youth who had yelled out in his sleep as the old man passed his room.

"I'm fine, Uncle." The young man snapped. "Jus-just dreams again."

"Would you care to tell me about them?"

"No, Uncle, I'm fine. I just need to be left alone."

"Very well." The old man responded with uncertainty as he closed the door once again.

The young man clutched at his head as he recalled the dream. His dreams had become so strange lately, ever since he found the Avatar. This dream was very unusual, and it frightened him. He had vaguely remembered a group of people; though he didn't see their faces he knew that all but one of them weren't Fire Nation. Whatever it was he was talking to them about had been cut short by shouts, cries for help. He remembered running to an open courtyard that he recognized as part of the royal palace. In the sky he saw a great, dark shape that he could only describe as 'evil'. He felt a surge of power inside of him, and before he knew it he was using Firebending to blast himself directly at the dark mass. He was engulfed in the darkness and was Firebending in all directions. The darkness seemed to fear the light of the fire. However, he felt as if he was being consumed by the void and his strength began to diminish until he was falling…

That was when he woke up with a scream. The dream had felt so life-like, as if it was more of a memory than a dream. He'd been having weird dreams and…_visions_ of late. He had no idea what they meant but they always involved the same characters. And a name kept popping into his mind. _Akari_. He rose from his bed and threw on a robe and went to find his uncle, if anyone would have answers it was _him_.

"Prince Zuko? What is the matter?" The old man asked.

"Uncle, there is something from my dreams that I am curious about. Does the name 'Akari' have any significance?"

Iroh suddenly began to choke on his tea.

"Prince Zuko. Wherever did you learn that name?"

"In the dream, someone referred to me as Akari. Who is Akari?"

The old Dragon of the West arose from his seat and walked over to a bookshelf to retrieve a scroll. He unfurled it before his nephew. The scroll contained a portrait of a young woman, clearly Fire Nation, and very beautiful, who wore the crown of the Fire Lord.

"Fire Lord Akari, firstborn child of Fire Lord Manchu. She was quite legendary, though most of the records about her are scarce. According to the stories, she was part of a group of four young women, one from each nation, who worked together to end a great evil in the world. The events of that battle have long since vanished from history, and the only other thing we know about her is that she abdicated and gave the throne to her younger brother, Fire Lord Xiong, from whom the rest of the Fire Lords are descended."

"Does anyone know why Fire Lord Akari abdicated?"

"The legend is that she fell in love with a young man from the Water Tribe but the people of the Fire Nation refused to accept their union. Of course that might just be an old folk tale." Iroh chuckled, but there was something in his eyes that indicated that he knew more about the story than he let on.

"I see. Thank you, Uncle, this has been most interesting."

Zuko turned and left his uncle's room. After the young prince left, Iroh rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the door that his nephew had just exited through.

"Most interesting indeed."

* * *

"Those clouds look so soft, don't they?" Katara stated as the gang soared through the sky. "Like you could just jump down and you'd land in a big, soft, cottony heap."

"Maybe you should give it a try." Sokka suggested sarcastically.

"Funny, Meat-head, I was about to suggest the same thing to _you_." Wenona said snarkily.

"I'll try it!" Aang exclaimed. He then leapt off of Appa's head with his glider, laughing crazily. The others all looked over one side of the saddle, waiting for him to appear. Instead he soared up the other side and landed in the saddle, soaking wet. "Turns out clouds are made of water."

As Aang Airbended himself dry, Keng noticed something in the distance.

"Hey, guys, what is _that_?" He said as he pointed to the odd, dark shape in the distance.

"It's like a scar." Sokka thought aloud.

Wenona began to feel weird as another vision passed through her head. _She was staring up at the sky as she and some others stood on the plains of the frozen tundra. Suddenly, the sky was cleft with a dark shape that tore through the blue heavens. She felt fear unlike any she'd ever known._

"Nona? You okay?" Sokka asked, jolting her back to reality.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She replied but continued to stare at the dark shape below. "Let's check it out."

They landed and it was clear straight away that the dark shape they had seen was what remained of a burned-down forest.

"Listen." Sokka instructed.

"I don't hear anything." Keng responded.

"Exactly. It's so quiet. There's no life anywhere."

"Aang?" Katara inquired, seeing how shaken up the boy seemed. "Are you okay?"

Wenona looked down and spotted some footprints in the ashes. She gave Sokka a light nudge and his eyes went wide with anger.

"Fire Nation!" He growled. "Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for-" He was cut off by Katara shushing him. "What, I'm not allowed to be angry?" Wenona elbowed him the ribs.

"Shut up, Meat-head." Wenona hissed at him and then pointed towards Aang who had slumped to the ground in despair.

"Why would anyone do this?" Aang questioned as he ran his hand through the ashes. "How could I let this happen?"

"Aang, you didn't _let_ this happen. The Fire Nation did it. It's not your fault." Keng assured him.

"Yes it _is_. It's the Avatar's job to protect nature, but I don't know how to do my job."

"That's why we're going to the North Pole." Katara reminded him. "To find you a teacher."

"Yeah, a _Waterbending_ teacher, but there's no one who can teach me how to be the Avatar. Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me."

"The Avatar before you?" Sokka inquired. "He died over a hundred years ago, how are you supposed to talk to _him_?"

"I don't know."

"Stranger things have happened." Wenona stated. "I assume."

* * *

After Aang had sat moping for a while, Katara came up with an idea.

"Hey, Aang, ready to be cheered up?" She asked.

"No." He deadpanned, only to exclaim 'Ow!' when she threw an acorn at his head. "Hey, how was _that_ cheering me up?"

"Cheered _me_ up." Sokka said through muffled laughter. Wenona and Katara both threw acorns at him. "Ow! Yeah, I probably deserved that."

"These acorns are everywhere, Aang." Katara explained as she approached him and handed him one. "That means the forest will grow back. Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday. And all the birds and animals that lived here will come back."

"Thanks, Katara." Aang responded with a smile.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the sound of someone approaching. When they looked up they saw it was an old man.

"Hey, who're you?" Sokka asked.

The man ignored him and continued up to Aang.

"When I saw the flying-bison, I thought it was impossible." He said. "But…those markings. Are you the Avatar, child?" Aang briefly looked to Katara, who nodded, and he nodded as well. "My village desperately needs your help."

It was nearing nightfall when they arrived at the small village of Senlin. The town looked to have had quite a bit of damage done recently. They were shown into the town hall where all the residents seemed to be taking shelter. The old man and the village leader explained to them how a spirit monster named Hei-Bai was terrorizing them and kidnapping some of the villagers. Aang agreed to try and reason with the spirit, in the hopes of convincing it to stop attacking the people. The Water Tribe siblings watched anxiously from inside the town hall, ready to leap into action if needed.

"This isn't right." Sokka stated as they watched Aang advance towards the village entrance. "We can't sit here and cower while Aang waits for some monster to show up."

"If anyone can save us, _he_ can." The old man from before assured him.

"I don't like this." Keng said. "I don't like this at all."

"I hear ya, Squirt." Wenona agreed. "Something seems way off."

"He still shouldn't have to face this alone." Sokka continued.

Aang continued to yell out to the spirit that hadn't shown up yet. The sun had completely set but nothing had happened. Wenona felt more and more uneasy. As Aang turned and began to walk back towards the town hall, a large creature appeared behind him.

"Oh no." Wenona gasped.

The spirit then began to destroy parts of the village as Aang frantically tried to reason with it, to no avail. When the spirit got irritated with Aang and flung him against a building, Sokka had had enough.

"That's it! He needs help!" Sokka declared and then ran for the door.

"Wait for me, Meat-head!" Wenona yelled as she followed her brother.

"Sokka! Nona! Wait!" Katara protested.

As the two eldest siblings ran outside, the village leader held Katara back, warning her that it wasn't safe.

"Hei-Bai! Over here!" Sokka shouted as he threw his boomerang at the creature. The creature didn't pay it any mind. Sokka and Wenona ran over to Aang.

"Sokka, Nona, go back." Aang insisted.

"We'll fight him together, Aang."

"We got your back, Air-head." Wenona added.

"I don't wanna fight him unless I-" Aang started, only to be cut off when Hei-Bai came over and snatched up Sokka and Wenona. The spirit then made a dash for the forest, with Aang in pursuit on his glider.

"Sokka! Nona!" Katara and Keng yelled out as they ran outside with the villagers. The younger Waterbenders stared off at the forest entrance, hoping beyond hope that everyone would be okay.

* * *

Wenona's eyes snapped open. The last thing she remembered before blacking-out, Aang had been right next to her on his glider and had just taken hold of her hand before everything was engulfed in an ethereal mist after which she fell into unconsciousness. Wenona blinked and tried to figure out where she was. She sat up and had one heck of a head-rush. She saw that she was in some sort of a swamp-like place that was filled with amber light that created the effect of an eternal autumn.

"Sokka?!" Wenona called out. "Aang?! Anyone?!"

"It's good to see you, old friend." A voice behind her said.

Wenona snapped her head to look for the source of the voice and gasped at who she saw. It was a young woman with tan skin and rich, royal-blue eyes. She had long, mahogany-brown hair that had been styled in a topknot which was fastened with a silver crown in the shape of a lotus-blossom and encrusted with sapphires; she also had hair-loopies like Katara and Gran-Gran wore. Her clothes were rich purple with Water Tribe patterns and trimmed with thick fur. Around her neck she wore a pendant like Katara's only with a different carving. The energy that radiated off this woman was comforting and maternal, protective and reassuring. In her time, Wenona had seen only one copy of this woman's likeness, on a sacred relic that the tribal prophetess kept secure in an old box and only removed for important ceremonies.

"Mother Setna." Wenona gasped and bowed her head in the presence of the foundress of the Southern Water Tribe.

"Do not bow before me. If anyone is deserving of reverence it is you." Setna said in her gentle voice.

"Me?"

"If it had not been for you, I would never have been what I am."

"What do you mean?"

Setna knelt down in front of her and the two locked eyes.

"That I cannot tell you just yet. You will learn it over time as will the others."

"What others?"

"I can tell you this much; your destiny, and that of two other people, has been intertwined with that of the Avatar since the beginning. Originally you were four, but the Fire Nation has changed that. Only when the four nations are in harmony will the Four Sources be returned to their true status."

"Great Mother, I am afraid I don't understand you."

"You will, child. In time you will understand. I will show you something." She stood up and pointed towards a pool of water. "Look."

Wenona looked into the water and gasped in shock when she saw not her own face but that of a different young woman. She had straight black hair that had two plaited strands on either side of her face, her skin was a much darker tan than she knew her own skin to be, her eyes were the color of the night sky. Wenona felt as if she knew this girl, that she had seen her before. The reflection seemed to have a life of its own as it gave her a smug grin and rolled its eyes.

"There is so much you need to learn, Miakoda." Setna told her.

That name. It was so familiar. Wenona knew the name from the ancient language; it means 'Power of the Moon'. Despite all this, Wenona was confused. Great Mother Setna was speaking in riddles to her, she had so many questions, and above all she needed to find Sokka and Aang.

"Mother Setna, do you know where I can find the ones I came here with?"

"You came here with no one. Your brother is in the possession of Hei-Bai, and Avatar Aang is in the realm between the Spirit World and the Human World. He is currently learning what he needs for the moment, as are you."

"What else can you tell me?"

"Soon, Avatar Aang will meet his past-life Avatar Roku. On that day, you must go with him into the temple sanctuary. Once inside, you will meet someone who will be _your_ spiritual guide."

"Who?"

"He will tell you when you meet him. For now, I must inform you of a very important mission."

"Yes?"

"It is imperative that you master Waterbending and healing, and you must do so before Avatar Aang himself does."

"Why?"

"Because, your role in his life is as a teacher and protector. You and the others have always mastered your element before the Avatar of your lifetime. It has been that way since the beginning. Just as you taught me, you must teach _him_."

"I…taught…_you_?"

"You did in your first life, Miakoda. Or Wenona, as I should call you now."

"Who was Miakoda?"

"Your questions cannot all be answered by me. I am simply here to give you instructions and to protect you as a child of my tribe. That necklace I gave you will keep you safe as long as you wear it. Though flames lick at your skin or earth bury you, you shall not be harmed."

"You gave me this." It was not a question. Wenona placed her hand to her throat and felt the sacred emblem, she had known deep down that it was this spirit who had given this charm to her and she would never take it off.

"Yes, my child, on that night when you were trapped in that blizzard."

"I knew it was you. I always knew you protected your people."

"I only wish I had the power to stop the Fire Nation from butchering the rest of the Southern Waterbenders. But sadly, even _I_ am not that powerful." Avatar Setna was silent for a moment before her head snapped up. "Our time is drawing to an end. I bid you farewell and do not forget what I have told you."

* * *

Wenona found herself fading through a weird mist. The next thing she knew, she was walking out of a bamboo bush and being tackled by her siblings.

"What happened?" Sokka asked.

"You two were trapped in the Spirit World for 24-hours." Katara explained. "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry." Wenona stated at the same time that Sokka said he really had to use the bathroom.

After the village leader expressed his gratitude to Aang for saving their village, Aang proceeded to explain to his friends that he needed to get to a temple on a crescent-shaped island in the Fire Nation in order to talk to Avatar Roku on the Solstice. Wenona realized immediately that that must be the place that Avatar Setna had told her about. Wenona knew that they had to get to that temple no matter what.

**Whew, finally got this chapter done. Took me long enough. Please review.**


	9. What Took You so Long?

Last of Our Kind

**Sorry I took so long to update, I've been kind of busy lately. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.**

"The Master said, "A true teacher is one who, keeping the past alive, is also able to understand the present."  
(Analects 2.11)  
― Confucius

What Took You so Long?

Wenona and Aang had agreed to try and sneak off on Appa to get to Roku's Temple as they had been instructed in the Spirit World. They decided it was for the best that the others didn't come along as it could put them in danger. Unfortunately, Appa didn't share their sympathies.

"Let's _go_, Appa." Aang said quietly as he tugged at the bison's reins. "Come on, boy."

"Look, Appa," Wenona said, "we're sorry, but Sokka, Katara, and Keng are _not_ coming with us. This mission is specifically for me and Aang, and if my little siblings got hurt, I could never forgive myself."

"Exactly," Aang agreed, "so get your big butt off the ground and let's go!"

"I think his big butt is trying to tell you something." Came the recognizable voice of Sokka.

Wenona and Aang looked at the others sheepishly.

"Please don't go, guys." Katara said. "Aang, the world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation, and neither can I. And, Nona, if they capture you who knows what they'll do?"

"I know what," Wenona said solemnly, "slavery, imprisonment, possibly even death. But Aang and I have a mission. Aang needs to connect to Avatar Roku's spirit and I need to meet this guide that Avatar Setna told me about."

"I _have_ to talk to Avatar Roku about what my vision means." Aang added. "We _need_ to get to the Fire Temple before the sun sets on the Solstice. That's _today_!" Aang Airbended himself onto Appa's head and Wenona quickly climbed up into the saddle. As Aang began to lead Appa forward, Sokka, Katara, and Keng jumped in front of him.

"We're not letting you two go into the Fire Nation." Said Katara.

"At least, not without us." Sokka added with a grin. "We got your back."

Aang and Wenona smiled, realizing there was no dissuading the other Water Tribe kids. Appa gave Sokka a friendly lick, much to his displeasure. The village leader handed them some supplies and urged them to leave quickly in order to make it to the temple in time.

* * *

The sun was steadily rising in the east. Everyone's nerves were on-edge as they flew across the vast stretch of ocean.

"Come on, boy, we've got a long way to go." Aang said to Appa. "Faster!"

Appa gave a low growl in acknowledgement and began to speed up. Keng was observing the water below for any sign of danger. That's when he saw the ship.

"I think we've got a problem!" He declared.

"Yeah, and it's gaining fast!" Sokka added worriedly.

"Fireball!" Katara shouted as said object was launched from the ship below.

"I'm on it!" Aang replied, steering Appa out of harm's way.

As the fireball zoomed by them it filled the air with a horrible stench.

"Urgh!" Wenona cried out, pinching her nose. "Can't they make their weapons of destruction not smell so bad?"

"We have to get out of Zuko's range before he shoots another hot stinker at us!" Katara said.

"Can't you make Appa go any faster?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah, but there's just one little problem." Aang said.

"A blockade." Wenona gasped. "This...is bad."

"If we fly north we can go around the Fire Nation ships and avoid the blockade. It's the only way."

"We don't have time for that! We'll have to run it!"

"Nona's right," Katara agreed, "we won't make it to the temple if we take a detour."

"This is exactly why we didn't want you guys to come." Aang said. "It's too dangerous!"

"Why else do you think we're here?" Keng inquired.

"Let's run this blockade." Sokka said.

"Appa! Yip-yip!" Aang proclaimed and the bison immediately shot off at an astounding speed.

The Fire Navy ships had clearly taken notice of them. Aang was having Appa dodge fireballs left and right. He took them higher into the clouds to try and get better cover; unfortunately, one fireball came perilously close and, as Appa tried to avoid it, Sokka was thrown out of the saddle and started falling to almost-certain doom. Aang swung Appa around and they all plunged down toward the water. They just managed to get down in time for Wenona and Katara to grab their Nonbender brother and pull him to safety. The Fire Navy ships took advantage of their exposed position and launched another barrage of fireballs. At one point, Aang had to perform an air-strike and shatter one fireball that was coming head-on towards them. No sooner was that accomplished than they soared right past the blockade.

"We made it!" Aang and Wenona declared.

"We got into the Fire Nation." Sokka said uncertainly. "_Great_."

"Next stop, the crescent island." Keng stated with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.

* * *

It was getting close to evening when they finally spotted the island. Aang brought them down to a clearing behind some rocks. Katara and Keng rubbed Appa's belly as the bison lay down to rest after his ordeal.

"You did it, buddy, nice flying." Aang said.

"Aw, you must be tired." Katara cooed.

"No," Sokka replied, not realizing to whom she was speaking, "I'm good. Refreshed and ready to fight some Firebenders."

"She was talking to Appa." Keng stated.

Sokka looked embarrassed for a moment before he shrugged it off.

"Well, _I_ was talking to _Momo_." He retorted.

"Keng," Wenona said, "I want you to wait here with Appa. There a strong likelihood that we'll find trouble and I don't want you getting caught up in it. Can you do that?"

"I'll try." Keng sighed with disappointment.

"Good," Wenona hugged him, "we promise we'll come back as soon as we're done in the temple."

"Good luck!" Keng called after the others as they began to walk away. Keng plopped down on a rock and exchanged looks with Appa. "How much you wanna bet they'll find more trouble than they expect and we'll need to come and rescue them?"

Appa gave a huff in response.

"You're right, only a moron would bet against _that_."

* * *

"I don't see any guards." Sokka said when they reached the temple entrance.

"The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku died." Katara pointed out.

"Well, if _I_ were the Fire Lord," Wenona said, "I wouldn't exactly want people venerating an incarnation of my ultimate enemy."

"It's almost sundown," Aang said, "we better hurry."

The four kids and the flying-lemur darted into the temple. Inside, it was empty, and quiet. Too quiet.

"Wait," Sokka said, "I think I heard something."

They all turned around and saw a group of older men in red uniforms and funny hats.

"We are the Fire Sages," declared the oldest one, clearly the leader, "guardians of the temple of the Avatar!"

"Great," said Aang, "I _am_ the Avatar."

"We know." He then sent a blast of fire towards them.

Aang began to Airbend the oncoming fire-blasts away and yelled for the others to run for it. They set off through the labyrinthine passages, narrowly avoiding their pursuers. Then, suddenly, they found themselves cornered. One of the Sages was approaching.

"I don't want to fight you." He said. "I am a friend."

"Firebenders aren't our friends." Sokka snapped.

The man walked forward and kowtowed before them.

"I know why you're here, Avatar."

"You do?" Aang inquired.

"Yes," he arose, "you wish to speak to Avatar Roku. I can take you to him."

"How?"

The man moved a lamp on the wall to the side and sent a fire-blast into an opening concealed behind it. A secret passage opened.

"This way." Everyone looked a little unsure until they heard the voice of the Head Sage nearby. "Time is running out. Quickly."

The Fire Sage who helped them introduced himself as Shyuu. He told them of how the Fire Sages were originally loyal only to the Avatar, but the war ended up forcing them to pledge their loyalty to the Fire Lord. Shyuu continued by saying how, a few weeks ago, the eyes of Roku's statue began to glow and they knew the Avatar would come. He led them through the underground tunnel and up a spiral staircase to the chamber outside the Sanctuary. When they arrived, they realized, to their dismay, the Sanctuary doors were locked. Only a fully realized Avatar or five Firebenders were powerful enough to open the lock.

"Five fire-blasts, huh?" Sokka pondered. That's when inspiration struck. "I think I can help you out. Nona, hand me one of those lamps."

"Okay." She replied, handing her brother a lamp from the wall.

Sokka then began to fill five separate bags with the oil and sealed them shut.

"This is a little trick I picked up from my father." Sokka explained. "I seal the lamp oil inside an animal-skin casing. Shyuu lights the oil-soaked twine and ta-daa! Fake Firebending."

"That's our little explosives expert." Wenona said fondly.

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Sokka." Katara added.

"This might actually work." Shyuu said.

Sokka quickly set the explosive bags in place.

"The Sages will hear the explosion, so as soon as the doors open, you rush in." Shyuu said to Aang and Wenona.

"It's almost sunset," Katara warned them as they positioned themselves behind the pillars, "you guys ready?"

"Definitely." Aang assured her.

Shyuu lit the fuses, there was a tremendous boom, and…nothing. The doors were still locked. Naturally, Aang was more than a little ticked off and began pounding at the door with air-slices.

"I don't get it," Sokka said as he inspected the scorch-marks, "that blast looked as strong as any Firebending I've seen."

"Sokka," Katara gasped, "you're a genius."

"Wait, on what grounds are you basing that statement?" Wenona asked in disbelief.

"How is Sokka a genius?" Aang added. "His plan didn't even work."

"Come on, guys, let her dream." Sokka said smugly.

"You're right, Sokka's plan didn't work." Katara continued. "But it _looks_ like it did."

Wenona smiled in understanding while Aang just seemed clueless as ever.

"Did the definition of 'genius' change in the last hundred years?" He asked.

* * *

"Come quickly!" Shyuu yelled as the other Sages entered. "The Avatar has entered the temple Sanctuary!"

"How did he get in?" Asked the Head Sage.

"I don't know. But look at the scorch-marks, and down there." Shyuu pointed to where a shadow moved through the crack beneath the doors.

"He's inside! Open the doors immediately, before he contacts Avatar Roku!"

All five Fire Sages sent fire-blasts into the locks. The doors opened to reveal, not Aang, but Momo.

"It's the Avatar's lemur! He must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!"

Momo leapt at the Head Fire Sage and turned his headdress around so he couldn't see. Shyuu, Katara, and Sokka apprehended the other Sage. Wenona also jumped out and ran for the Sanctuary.

"Now, Aang!" Shyuu yelled.

No one came.

"Aang, hurry up!" Wenona called.

Aang did emerge, but he was being restrained by Prince Zuko.

"The Avatar's coming with me." He said. The Fire Sages escaped from the others' grips and held them prisoner and the Head Sage pulled Wenona away from the Sanctuary. "Close the doors! Quickly!"

Just as Zuko began to lead Aang away, the young Avatar managed to squirm out of his grip and dash towards the Sanctuary, grabbing Wenona away from the Head Sage and leading her inside, just in time. Suddenly, there was a flash of bright, blue light.

* * *

Inside the Sanctuary, Aang and Wenona beheld the statue of Avatar Roku. Aang was confused that nothing was happening, but Wenona hushed him and told him to be patient. She herself had taken notice of four tapestries on the walls of the room. One was of a Water Tribe man. Then, the light that reflected through the sun-stone illuminated the Sanctuary and a wind whipped around them. Aang found himself on a misty mountain-top facing Avatar Roku. Wenona, however, found herself somewhere completely different.

She was standing in an oasis. A small pool of water held two koi fish, circling each other like Yin and Yang. Beneath a large, wooden arch stood a man. He was dressed in heavy, blue, Water Tribe clothes. His hair was grayed and pulled into a wolf-tail. His eyes were an icy blue, not unlike her own.

"Hello, Wenona," he said in a deep, calm tone, "I've been waiting for you." He gave a pleasant smile.

* * *

"Why did you help the Avatar?" Zuko demanded.

"Because it was once the Sages' duty," Shyuu replied, "it is _still_ our duty."

They were interrupted by the sound of slow clapping.

"What a moving and heart-felt performance." Came the sarcastic voice of a man who was followed by a large group of guards. "I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him."

"Commander Zhao." The Head Sage greeted with a bow.

"And Prince Zuko," Zhao continued, "it was a noble effort, but your little smoke-screen _didn't_ work. Two traitors in one day, the Fire Lord _will_ be pleased."

"You're too late, Zhao!" Zuko declared as Zhao's guards restrained him. "The Avatar and one of his friends are inside and the doors are _sealed_."

"No matter. Sooner or later, they have to come out." Then a thought seemed to enter Zhao's mind. "Why is one of the Avatar's friends inside with him? I would have thought only the Avatar would be able to speak with Roku's spirit."

"We aren't sure." The Head Sage stated. "Perhaps one of _them_ can explain." He pointed towards Sokka and Katara.

Zhao marched over to the restrained, Water Tribe teens.

"Well? Care to enlighten us?" He said in his threateningly calm voice.

"You may as well forget it." Katara snapped.

"Our sister's reason for being in the Sanctuary is none of your business." Sokka added.

Zhao narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think you children comprehend your situation." He shot a blast of fire dangerously close to them, making Sokka give out a startled yelp. "Ready to talk?"

"No." Katara said angrily.

Zhao simply growled in annoyance and turned back towards the doors.

"I'll find out soon enough."

* * *

"Who are you?" Wenona asked the man. "Avatar Setna said you're my Spirit Guide, but I don't understand why."

"Come here, Wenona." He beckoned her closer and she approached. "My name is Achak. I was the Waterbending Master for Avatar Roku."

"So, what do you want from me?"

He sat down in front of the pool and motioned for her to do likewise.

"Yours is a curious destiny, young Waterbender." He continued. "Your life has always been connected to that of the Avatar. And I'll tell you how." His expression became contemplative. "In the days before the Avatar, there were four great Masters, known as the Four Sources. A daughter of each of the Four Nations, granted with unbelievable power and skill. They were each the successors to the first Bending Masters of the human race. Then, a time of Darkness came upon the world. An evil spirit attempted to destroy everything. The Sources often had to fight to protect their homelands, but none of them were strong enough to hold the spirit off for long. At least, not separately. The four women eventually came together and became good friends, fighting the Darkness whenever and wherever it appeared. Eventually, the spirit was prepared for one, final, ultimate strike. The Sources knew that only their joined powers were strong enough to defeat it; and so they gathered together in the rock-column basin at Wulong Forest. Together, they combined their energies, uniting the four elements into a single force. The force generated was pure Light Energy, the Avatar Spirit. The Darkness was driven out for good and the evil spirit destroyed."

"What happened to the Sources?" Wenona asked.

"The energies they contributed were their own Bending abilities. To summon the Avatar Spirit, a sacrifice had to be made. The Sources gave up their Bending."

"That's incredible. But what does this have to do with me and the war?"

"The Avatar Spirit could not remain in its raw form, that much power could become dangerous if it wasn't tempered. So, the Sources devised a system where the Avatar Spirit would be incarnated into an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth forever. The cycle began with the birth of a young Water Tribe girl named Setna." Wenona smiled at the mention of her tribe's foundress. "The Sources, though they could no longer Bend, were still able to teach Setna about her role as the Avatar, giving her the guidance and instruction she needed, even if not the Bending lessons she required. In remuneration for their brave and noble sacrifice, the Sources became the living embodiment of the Avatar's power and would, like the Avatar, be continuously reborn to teach the Avatar the elements."

"That's why Setna told me I needed to master Waterbending before Aang does."

"Yes. The Sources will always be the ones to truly teach the Avatar. Even when you get to the Northern Water Tribe, you will naturally surpass Aang. He will not have enough time to master Waterbending in a single place and must progress in the other elements as quickly as he can. You will help him reach mastery."

"What if I can't? What if I'm not strong enough? What if I can't protect him?"

"Your sisterly love for Aang is proof that you will never allow yourself to fail him. You know you are strong and powerful, Wenona. You have always been. Thousands of times you have guided and taught the Avatar, now it is your responsibility to do so again." He raised his arm and Wenona's gaze followed.

Across from where they sat stood thousands upon thousands of Water Tribe men and women. Each one radiated a sense of power.

"We are always with you," Achak continued, "we are a part of you, and you of us. We are the Water Source of the Avatar. An Avatar cannot survive without their Sources."

"What about the Air Source?" Wenona asked. "All the Airbenders are gone."

"Aang already knew his Air Source. Monk Gyatso helped Aang to master Airbending. Monk Gyatso's spirit lives on in Aang and will return with the first Airbender to be born in the new generation of Air Nomads."

"So, what you're saying is, even though all the Airbenders are gone, the Source exists in Aang and will start up a new cycle when he has an Airbender child?"

"Precisely."

"Okay, what about the other two Sources?"

"When the time is right, you will know them. You and the Avatar will feel a connection to them, something you won't be able to explain. Our time is drawing to an end. There is a threat awaiting you and Aang in the temple. I can help you, but only if you are ready."

Wenona felt incredible power coursing through her body. She saw blue light all around her, and a voice that was not hers alone spoke.

"_I'm ready_."

* * *

"When those doors open," Zhao said to his troops, "unleash all your fire power."

"How're Aang and Nona gonna make it out of _this_?" Katara whispered to Sokka.

"How're _we_ gonna make it out of this?" He retorted.

Slowly, the doors began to open and two sets of glowing eyes were seen.

"Aang! Nona!" Katara yelled out. "No!"

"Fire!" Zhao shouted.

Waves of fire flew towards the darkened chamber, only to be stopped by an old man with long, white hair and a beard with glowing eyes. Beside him stood another man in Water Tribe clothes.

"Avatar Roku and Master Achak of the Water Tribe." Shyuu gasped.

Avatar Roku sent the waves of fire back at the attackers, melting the chains that bound the captives. Master Achak stepped forward, his eyes glowing blue. He appeared to pull water straight from the air itself, creating a giant wave that washed the enemy over to the staircase, sending them sprawling and tumbling out. Avatar Roku then began to destroy the temple. When the attack calmed and everyone else had fled, Katara and Sokka looked through the clouds of dust to see the powerful entities transform back into their sister and friend. They rushed over and caught the two before they collapsed.

"Hey, Meat-head." Wenona choked out when she saw Sokka holding her. "How's it going?"

Sokka smiled lightly.

"Where's Shyuu?" Aang asked.

"I don't know." Katara replied.

The temple soon started to sink. The four kids inside waited near a hole in the wall, hoping for a miracle. They all gasped in shock and relief when they saw Keng steering Appa over to them. Making a hasty departure, the group leapt onto the bison and flew away from the ruined temple.

Down below them, looking through his spy-glass, a banished Fire Nation prince watched his only chance of returning home soar through the clouds to safety.

'**Achak' is Algonquin for 'spirit'.**


End file.
